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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25561690">The Keeper</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boxxsaltz/pseuds/Boxxsaltz'>Boxxsaltz</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dreamcatcher (Korea Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/F, Magical Creatures, Multiple Timelines</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 12:21:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>38,357</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25561690</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boxxsaltz/pseuds/Boxxsaltz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Time, Minji knows, is a beast of its own and does as it wants. But even the most powerful of forces could be thwarted and one day it would kneel.</p><p>Thus is the beginning of the new end.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Han Dong | Handong/Lee Gahyeon, Kim Bora | SuA/Kim Minji | JiU, Kim Bora | SuA/Kim Minji | JiU/Lee Siyeon, Kim Minji | JiU/Lee Siyeon, Kim Yoohyeon/Lee Yubin | Dami</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>197</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Welcome to a new journey! Note this fic frequently flips between past and present. Please, enjoy the ride of mystery and magic and feels. Thank you!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Blue-green. Like the ocean. It splatters across the snow in an iridescent spray, oozing between the unique patterns of flakes that are packed down along the bed of the woods. <br/><br/>Few flurries fall from the sky spread with high, gray clouds, little wisps of white dotting the thick onyx fur of the wolf that stands amongst the smattering of blood that coats the ground, thick paws weighing down in the snow. Boots crunch, sidling next to the beast and that’s where Minji stops. <br/><br/>It’s such a sad sight. She takes it in with lavender eyes that peer from beneath the hood of a cape. It keeps her warm despite the chill that runs through her from what she sees. The drops of blue-green lead to a body, pale skin touched with the slightest bit of color. Hair spills long, stretching across the earth like vines the color of graphite with the tips of pointed ears peeking through it. <br/><br/>Tatters of clothes stick poorly to skin, ripped up by the hack of a blade sliced over and over and over into the poor thing’s back. Minji sees why when she finds the deep gashes between shoulder blades, two sets that seep glossy and bright. <br/><br/>The flick of ears rotating catch Minji’s attention. She looks to her left where the wolf stands, their head as high as her chest. <br/><br/>“What is it, Siyeon?” she asks. <br/><br/>Siyeon’s lip pulls back on her muzzle, a soft growl emitting from her chest. It’s then that Minji hears it too. Hears <em>them. </em>Voices of human men, a few of them coming from the eastern edges of the woods where the nearest villages sit. She knows what they’re after. The catch that got away. <br/><br/>“We’ll carry her,” says Minji. <br/><br/>She crouches beside the girl in the snow and scoops her up. She’s light. All faeries are. She groans as Minji lifts up and carries her to where Siyeon has lowered for her to climb on. She holds the faerie girl cradled close as Siyeon begins into the thick of the woods, leaving voices behind. <br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>Before there was man, there was the folk—spun from nature and given living water from the streams carved into the earth that created their blood, their glowing sight from the moon, their bones from the bark of trees, their breath from the winds, and their heart from the molten core at the center of all. <br/><br/>They were numerous, watched over by those who called themselves the elves who grew horns that bowed backward on their heads and held many tongues in their mouths so as to maintain peace of all the different kinds of folk who walked along the earth. They and all the folk lived for a thousand years as one and many, worshiping nature that created them. <br/><br/>Then one evening came the thunder. Loud and roaring. Lightning like fire struck from the heavens into the dirt and out of it rose man. He stepped from the clay naked and fragile, shivering as he sought out something to cover with. And like all the folk that they watched over, so the elves watched over man, helping him to stand upright, to speak with the tongue in his mouth, to see as well as he could see with the eyes they were given. <br/><br/>As the elves helped man, man began to grow. Their numbers expanded and few became many. Too many. Then...came the war. <br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>Minji slips off Siyeon’s back with the faerie in her arms, trailing a winding path of stairs that wrap around the truck of an old, large tree buried deep in the woods. Paws follow behind as she steps into the tree cottage hidden in the canopies above. <br/><br/>Minji whispers an incantation under her breath once the door shuts and candles flick on, lighting up the place in an amber glow. Flames bounce off the dark stretches of wood that make up the walls and the floors, the bricks of a chimney, the earth tones of furniture and rugs. <br/><br/>“Towels and water,” she says. <br/><br/>She hears bones snap and reform as Siyeon wills away her pelt in exchange for skins. She plucks a robe from the hook they nailed beside the door for those late nights and early mornings Siyeon leaves for a run. When the moon is high, full, and bright and her body can’t resist the pelt that beckons her. <br/><br/>Siyeon’s steps are quiet as she hurries off to fetch the needed items. Minji lays the faerie on her stomach on the cushions of a couch where a blanket has been draped. Up close, the cuts on her back look much worse. Her skin is so broken. The blue-green seems endless, staining everywhere. The gashes are deep and jagged. Whoever cut into her had careless hands. It would take months for her to heal. <br/><br/>“Here.”<br/><br/>Minji looks up as she takes the towel Siyeon dipped into a bucket of water that she holds in her hands. Her eyes are still honey-gold and her black hair windblown, cut neat and short at her neck. She doesn’t look a day over twenty-four years though she has millennia of life that stretch behind and before her. <br/><br/>Siyeon sinks onto the floor beside where Minji crouched, running the rag over shredded skin. The blood mops up easily and rinses off the cloth as she dips it into the warm water that turns pale blue as she does so. <br/><br/>“We’ll need to close the wounds,” says Minji. Cleaned up, she’s able to see the extent of the damage. The gashes still leak and Minji’s insides burn in anger at what has been done to the poor creature. “Bring me my kit?”<br/><br/>Siyeon goes. She knows exactly where to look. This isn’t the first time they have carried someone from the woods into their home this way. It’s not the first time someone has needed their help. Her help. <br/><br/>The faerie whimpers as Minji finishes rinsing the rest of her back. A brow furrows, jaw flexing as teeth clench. Eyes open slowly, black pupils constricting to slits against green. They see Minji and panic takes over. She begins to move but Minji presses a hand to her shoulder and the small of her back, willing her to still.<br/><br/>“Shh, shh, it’s okay,” Minji coos, her tone gentle. “There is no need for fear here.”<br/><br/>The faerie looks up into Minji’s eyes, noting the lavender swirls and her lips part in surprise when she finds the two, black horns that stretch out of hair that shimmers a dark violet hue in the light. There are few creatures that possess horns and only one that does the way Minji does. <br/><br/>“Who are you?” she whispers, voice broken as her skin. She winces, no doubt finally feeling the pain in her back now that she was fully awake. <br/><br/>“My name is Minji. This is Siyeon.”<br/><br/>The faerie looks to the wolf who approaches with a wooden chest in her hands. Her eyes widen. <br/><br/>“Siyeon means you no harm,” Minji assures. She watches as the faerie keeps her eyes on Siyeon who lowers the chest onto the floor then steps back when she notes the unease her presence is creating. “What is your name?”<br/><br/>The faerie turns back to her. “Yoohyeon.”<br/><br/>“I’m sorry to tell you this, Yoohyeon, but they’ve taken your wings.”<br/><br/>They must’ve been pretty things. Elegant and lovely. Poachers wouldn’t still be after her if they wouldn’t sell for a pretty penny in the markets. And once they’d grown back, they would’ve taken them again for the same charge if not more. <br/><br/>Eyes glisten wet and Yoohyeon pulls her lip between her teeth. She doesn’t look surprised or shocked at the words. As if she already knows. Had known it was going to happen. She only looks lost and defeated. <br/><br/>“You’ve bled a lot. May I close your wounds?”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon nods.<br/><br/>“Minji.”<br/><br/>“A kettle for tea, too,” she says to Siyeon’s silent question of a meal who pulls off and heads for the kitchen. “You’ll stay with us tonight,” Minji says as she turns back to Yoohyeon. “The poachers who were after you are still in the woods.”<br/><br/>“How do we know they won’t find us?”<br/><br/>“They won’t.”<br/><br/>The clasps on the chest open and Minji lifts the top. Vials and bottles and jars fill up the bottom while little burlap pouches, labeled in ink on the fronts, line the shelves that extend from the top. Minji takes up a bottle with knowledgeable fingers and plucks out the cork, making each of her steps and movements apparent to Yoohyeon who watches her. <br/><br/>“This may sting a little at first,” Minji warns. <br/><br/>She smooths oils before taking up a needle. She holds spells on her tongue and magic in her hands but no type of incantation can sew wounds. <br/><br/>“Drink this.” She hands Yoohyeon a vial filled with a silvery blue liquid. “For the pain.”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon does and Minji waits, counting backward from thirty-three. She begins sewing the gashes after zero, minding Yoohyeon who stays quiet as she works. The potion numbs the pain but it also makes her sleepy and her green, cat eyes begin to droop. <br/><br/>The tree cottage smells of meats and vegetables by the time Minji is done. She pats Yoohyeon’s shoulder who opens her eyes back up with a yawn. <br/><br/>“We’ll get some food into you and a bath before bed. Okay?”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon nods. Minji helps her to sit up just as Siyeon walks in with a tray. There’s a bowl of soup on top and a cup of tea that pipes with steam. She accepts it into her lap with a muttered thanks. <br/><br/>“Don’t be afraid to ask us anything,” Minji tells her. <br/><br/>Yoohyeon looks up to both of them, gaze lingering a little longer on Siyeon before they settle on Minji. Her look is shy as she takes her in again and Minji smiles when she dips her head in a nod and begins to eat. She’s already looking better but nothing in Minji has settled. <br/><br/>Leading out of the room, she stops Siyeon in the hall. <br/><br/>“Go,” she hisses in a whisper. “See where they’ve gone.” She doesn’t have to clarify. She knows Siyeon understands. <br/><br/>The frosty scent of snow blows in as Siyeon climbs from a window and disappears into the darkness. <br/><br/>It’s just the beginnings of a long night. <br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>Minji saved many but it was Siyeon who saved her. <br/><br/>The lycans are riveting and loyal. They are strong and fierce. The moon runs through their veins and their skin burns hot like the pelt that’s hidden within it with eyes of gold, richer than honey. They have few to no enemies but many admirers. The vampyrs are one of both and Siyeon was one of their prized possessions. <br/><br/>Minji doesn’t know how long the vampyrs had Siyeon before she found her. Siyeon doesn’t know either. The moons blurred together and Minji thought having to recall the pain of her time with the nocturnal race wasn’t necessary for something like proper dates and times. <br/><br/>Siyeon was a main attraction. A fighter. Lycan tournaments were only one of the many forms of entertainment that were known but kept quiet amongst the folk. Minji was all too aware of them having sold healing potions and treated some of the worst wounds of lycans who had escaped or were dismissed after they had served their purpose or the bets were no longer high enough.<br/><br/>Siyeon was dumped. She was a pup when they stole her from her pack and taken many, many sunrises away from the corner of the earth that she was born. Being young made her strong and resilient as did her fear. It made her fight harder than any lycan and her bets were amongst some of the highest. <br/><br/>Until she broke her leg in a fight. <br/><br/>The vampyrs have no patience for healing. They themselves hold the ability to repair overnight. Lycans do not. So Siyeon was tossed out and her black, furry body washed up on the shores of a riverbank Minji was drawing water from. <br/><br/>Minji thought the adolescent wolf was dead. She was heavy, fur weighed by the water that soaked into her thick coat and unconsciousness making her limp. Minji pulled her as far as she could onto dry ground. She was large already even though she hadn’t yet reached her fullness. <br/><br/>Minji was quick to note the broken bone in her leg along with spots on her hunches where fur had scraped off. There were many other tells of where the wolf had come from. Like the way the fur around her neck was tighter and shorter from where a collar had rung. The hint of a scar on her muzzle from claws like her own. Healed punctures of teeth in legs and cuts in the fleshy pads of her paws. Minji knew instantly what purpose she had served and why she was in the river and not in a ring. <br/><br/>She was examining the broken bone when Siyeon blinked to consciousness. She spotted the hooded creature over her and snapped her jaws. Minji jerked back before teeth could clamp down on her forearm, hands held up.<br/><br/>“Calm. I’m trying to help you.”<br/><br/>But Siyeon didn’t listen. She flipped around and growled, teeth bared large and white.<br/><br/>“Please,” Minji tried. “If you don’t settle, you’re going to make it worse. If only you’d let me—“<br/><br/>Siyeon snarled when Minji tried to reach for her again and advanced, limping as she backed the elf up against the bark of a tree. <br/><br/>“I didn’t want to do this.”<br/><br/>Muttering a spell under her breath, Minji fanned her fingers in front of her face then pinched her ring and middle fingers to her thumb. Siyeon’s muzzle immediately shut. Panic filled her golden eyes and she whipped her head around trying to get her jaws open. <br/><br/>“The harder you struggle, the longer the spell will last.”<br/><br/>The wolf stopped. She looked to Minji, finally taking her in. She spotted eyes before the horns that revealed themselves when she pulled back the hood of her cape. Siyeon’s eyes narrowed and her nose flared as she sniffed. There was no folk who didn’t know of the elves even if their numbers were now practically none. To cross the path of an elf was rare after the war. Ones like Minji were a none in one. <br/><br/>“There,” said Minji, allowing a smile to lift on her lips. “See? I’m here to help.”<br/><br/>Siyeon didn’t look relieved but she allowed Minji to approach. She moved slowly to where Siyeon had dropped back against the grass, her injury too great to keep up with her fierce display. <br/><br/>“I’m going to have a look, okay?” She made sure to keep her eyes on Siyeon’s until she was crouched beside her. Minji touched the wound. <br/><br/>Siyeon swiped a paw at her in reflex, clipping her shoulder with the tips of her claws. She was so strong, it threw Minji back. She winced, cupping her hand over where she had been struck. There was a bit of blood but it would be fine. Nothing too deep. <br/><br/>“I’m sorry. I’ll be careful,” she assured and inspected again. “Broken.” She looked up to find Siyeon’s eyes. “You’re a young lycan, this shouldn’t take too long to mend. I have a place you can rest. It’s safe. With food. The vampyrs won’t be able to find you there,” she tacked on. <br/><br/>Golden eyes widened before they settled. She almost looked ashamed. Minji wished she wouldn’t. It wasn’t her fault and she hoped she’d be able to ease some of her sufferings by opening her home to her for a little while. <br/><br/>“Would you like to come?”<br/><br/>Siyeon dipped her muzzle in a nod. <br/><br/>“Can you walk?”<br/><br/>Pushing up, she held her hind leg away from the ground the best she could. It would have to do. Minji was strong but she wasn’t strong enough to carry a wolf and she didn’t think Siyeon trusted her enough to shift into skins that would make her more vulnerable. <br/><br/>“It isn’t too far,” said Minji. “Follow me.”<br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>Siyeon is in bed when Minji finally retires to their room after making sure Yoohyeon was comfortable enough to sleep. The tree cottage has many rooms and Minji placed her in the coziest of ones where she knows heat traps better than the others. <br/><br/>She climbs onto the mattress and crawls up the length of Siyeon’s body who accepts her with a yawn that shows the points of her canines that are always a little longer and sharper than her other teeth.<br/><br/>“You look tired,” says Siyeon and Minji laughs softly because she wasn’t the one who had just yawned. <br/><br/>Minji nuzzles her face into Siyeon’s neck with a hum. She’s warm and comfortable. Familiar in a way that only lifetimes can create. Her skin holds the flavor of the lycans beneath the fragrance of soaps and oils she uses to wash. Minji breathes it in, seeking comfort in the smell.<br/><br/>Her spirits are low. Her heart hurts for Yoohyeon. A faerie’s wings are their pride. To strip them away was to strip away their very essence and Minji could see the dullness in Yoohyeon’s green eyes. They haunt her behind her lids and she whines. <br/><br/>A hand smooths through her hair, nails grazing along her scalp. It’s soothing in a way that only Siyeon can create, nails slightly lengthen to short claws. <br/><br/>“How long do you think it will take?”<br/><br/>“Many months.” <br/><br/>Once the gashes heal, wings would begin to bud beneath the husk on her back then break free from the thin layer when they were fully grown. Minji wonders what they’ll look like. She wonders how far they’ll stretch and what patterns they’ll hold. No two faerie wings were alike. They were as unique as fingerprints. <br/><br/>“What court is she from?” asks Siyeon. <br/><br/>“I don’t know.” She didn’t ask. She sighs. She fears the fate of the other fae that weren’t as lucky as Yoohyeon to get away. <br/><br/>“Minji.” <br/><br/>She lifts her chin and finds Siyeon’s eyes. They’re as beautiful as the moon. The hazel they hold is duller than what they shine right after a shift but they’re gleaming nonetheless. She wonders how man could find such loveliness terrifying, hunting them down to make themselves feel strong and safe. Minji just wants to lap them up like syrup. <br/><br/>“You got her to safety. She’s going to get better.”<br/><br/>Minji knows but, “It isn’t fair.”<br/><br/>Siyeon nods. <br/><br/>“I didn’t know she— I didn’t see her. There are shadows in my sight.”<br/><br/>“Isn’t that a good sign?”<br/><br/>“Maybe.” Her brow wrinkles. “I don’t know yet. Not until I see <em>something.”</em><br/><br/>Minji drops her face into Siyeon’s chest. She has done this a thousand times and it doesn’t get easier seeing the folk lessen in numbers and suffer hardships from man who lives beyond the border of trees. She feels for the folk who have ventured out from the safety of the woods or hollows beneath the earth, caves, sea depths, and secret places to live in the villages, risking being caught and found out. <br/><br/>Siyeon kisses the top of her head between her horns. It’s gentle and it soothes her along with the hand that runs up and down her back. There’s a great sorrow in her tonight and she lifts her chin to claim lips knowing one of the few places she has found happiness and calm is in the wolf who holds her. <br/><br/>And how strange that is. <br/><br/>She remembers when Siyeon was afraid to touch her. When she was more feral than tame when they met. Her nails often sharp, her eyes always molten gold. She bore her fangs as if they could not retract, ears large on her head and tail hanging. She was all beast, forced into that way by the vampyrs. <br/><br/>Now her kisses are gentle though Minji knows she can be rough. Her claws, though hidden, scratch at her skin but don’t often leave welts. Her teeth lengthen and her eyes glow, each drawn out by the swirls of passion. <br/><br/>Minji embraces them all. She kisses Siyeon’s throat and feels the vibration of a growl. The sound makes Minji smile. She’s still surprised sometimes that even after all this time what they feel for each other, the rise they can get out of one another, is still so strong. She never thought she would find lasting love like this. Especially after the war. She never thought she would have someone that would help her to feel less alone. She never knew it would be a lycan who would save her from loneliness. <br/><br/>“Minji,” Siyeon both warns and asks as kisses continue to paint along her warm skin. Once you rile a wolf it is hard to settle them back down. But Minji doesn’t want to settle Siyeon. She wants to settle herself. <br/><br/>Minji nips the place behind Siyeon’s ear. “Quietly.”<br/><br/>She lets Siyeon roll her into the blankets and lick at her lips before kissing. There is none that love as fiercely and passionately as the lycans. When they love they love until death and it is never fleeting. So perhaps she isn’t too surprised that it is Siyeon who became her companion of millennia, come after one previous was lost. <br/><br/>Skin burns against her own like the heat of a blanket. Siyeon nips at Minji’s shoulder to her collar and peppers kisses to the center of her chest as if to mend her broken heart. Minji feels as if each kiss removes a shard and tosses it away. She’s light as air when Siyeon feathers her lips along her stomach that she gets to from beneath a nightgown. <br/><br/>Minji combs her fingers into short hair that spills through the spaces between. Siyeon looks up to her, eyes shimmery. Minji brushes a thumb along Siyeon’s bottom lip that doesn’t close all the way due to her teeth that have slightly lengthened. Minji loves the sight of them. She loves the parts of her wolf that cross over when she’s in skins. She’s a beautiful creature of two worlds much like Minji is a being mothering of many worlds.<br/><br/>“You are my moon and my light,” Minji mutters. <br/><br/>Siyeon kisses the pad of the thumb that’s against her lips. Her eyes are their brightest yet. “May I?”<br/><br/>Minji nods. <br/><br/>Siyeon slips down beneath the sheets with one hand in Minji’s, kisses the length of her thighs, and cancels her aches with waves of plentiful joy through the night. <br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>The morning brings more snow and cold along with it. Siyeon starts a fire so that it warms the cottage while Minji sets a kettle. Three mugs sit out, one atop a tray she will take to Yoohyeon. <br/><br/>Minji hears the creak of a floor beam before she feels hands slide up her back, hot from the fire and the warmth within. Siyeon kisses behind her ear and nibbles. It tickles and Minji laughs, squirming a little in Siyeon’s arms that circle her from behind. <br/><br/>“Good morning again, my love.” Minji nuzzles her head against the one that presses to hers. Siyeon still smells like the woods from another check she ran before dawn broke. “Anything?”<br/><br/>“They’re gone.” She rests her chin on Minji’s shoulder, mouth turning up at the corners when she gets a quick peck on the nose. “They might be back but they never came this deep into the woods.”<br/><br/>Minji hums a reply. “I should reinforce the wards.”<br/><br/>That was how they had stayed undetected for so long. Warding spells and glamours, though neither lasted long, took work and energy to create and maintain. It would take a bit more with three bodies now instead of two. <br/><br/>“How long until we return her to her court?”<br/><br/>“One more or two suns. She’d be more comfortable healing home than here.”<br/><br/>Siyeon mumbles a reply and pulls back to press her nose between Minji’s shoulders where she rubs her face. “The new moon rises soon.”<br/><br/>Minji knows. “She’ll be gone before then.”<br/><br/>“Do you think she was the missing piece?”<br/><br/>Minji’s hands still. She thinks. “We will see.”<br/><br/>Siyeon gives her shoulder an endearing bite and draws away, letting Minji take up the tray of porridge and tea that she takes down the hall.<br/><br/>“Yoohyeon?” Minji taps her knuckles on the door. “May I come in?”<br/><br/>She waits for an address before she lets the door open. It is cozy warm inside. Yoohyeon sits up in the bed that fits her frame just right. Beside it is a small table, the warm, reddish-brown wood matching a dresser and a desk and chair set across the way. <br/><br/>A lantern lights up the room like the late evening sunset. The flames reflect off Yoohyeon’s cat eyes making them glitter. She’s very pretty, Minji notes. She holds an innocence in her face. A kindness in her eyes. Not all faeries are kind, she knows. They can be playful and tricksters, barbaric and warriors. arrogant and elegant. They can be many things in one but yet still pretty as faeries are. <br/><br/>“For you.” Minji holds up the tray then sits it on the desk. “I’ve mixed herbs in the tea that will help with your recovery. Do you mind if I redress your wounds?”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon turns for Minji to lift off her cotton shirt and get to the bandages. They’re soaked through in a few places and she goes to fetch a bowl and cloth before returning to clean everything up. <br/><br/>“Does it hurt?”<br/><br/>“Not as much as before.”<br/><br/>“Drinks this. It will help even more.”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon accepts the cup of tea. It has a dark, earthy scent to it. The taste is heady and bitter but Yoohyeon drinks it easily. Faeries have tongues for bitter things, something that the lycans do not. Minji remembers trying to get Siyeon to drink it in the past. She did begrudgingly so. <br/><br/>“What court are you from?” asks Minji as she rolls out a new set of bandages. <br/><br/>“Sage.”<br/><br/>Minji nods. The Fae have four courts, each with a connection to the elements that exist. Imperial for fire, Regal for wind, Admiral for water, and Sage for earth. As the elves were the guardians of the folk, the fae were the guardians of the earth. Nurturing it, protecting it, honoring it. As if withers and fades, so the fae with it. <br/><br/>“How were you captured?”<br/><br/>“The dryads who protected the Giving Trees sent a call of distress. A few of us went to respond and that’s when they captured us.”<br/><br/>Minji sucks in a breath. “But the Giving Trees are hidden.”<br/><br/>“They’re gone.” In just those two words, Minji feels the weight of Yoohyeon’s loss. “The fruits have been picked and the dryads slain.”<br/><br/>Minji’s jaw tightens. The Giving Trees were three sister trees, each sprouting fruits that granted the one who ate it either knowledge, wisdom, or power depending on which you chose from. If all the fruits were taken, the trees would wither away. The dryads had protected the trees for many years, tending to their branches and watering the sacred earth they grew from. <br/><br/>“How did they find the garden?” The Garden of Dawn. The first garden. The place where all aside from man birthed from. It could only be revealed to one of pure heart and intention or entered by a folk with access into it granted by the phoenix who held its feather keys. <br/><br/>Yoohyeon shakes her head. “I don’t know.”<br/><br/>Minji’s lips purse. The fruits of the Giving Trees in the wrong hands was dangerous. Knowing where the garden resides was even more so. Minji blinks and behind her lids, she sees images of fire, of trees burning, of creatures and folk fleeing. Her heart races. <br/><br/>“What about the others who were taken?” she asks, casting the images of destruction away. <br/><br/>“I was the only one who escaped.”<br/><br/>Minji nods. “We should warn the Court. They could be coming for them and you probably miss home.”<br/><br/>She finishes the dressings and goes to clean up her kit while Yoohyeon eats. <br/><br/>“Minji?”<br/><br/>She peers over her shoulder, lavender meeting jade. There’s such gentleness in her eyes. Such sadness. Minji feels the need to wrap her up and create a spell that would take it all away. It reminds Minji of when she rescued Siyeon and how there was fear and sorrow beneath the rage and fury she had held so long to keep herself alive and safe. She feels her heart pull for the faerie. <br/><br/>“How— why do you live in these woods?” asks Yoohyeon. “And with a lycan? Why not flee to be safe? Hide from all else to spare the last of your kind?”<br/><br/>The elves are old but the fae are too. After the elves were spun to look after the folk, the fae were sprouted to nurture nature. She doesn’t know how old Yoohyeon is, but there’s a sense that she knows of the old earth. Eons before the war. When no folk lived in fear. Where they were all happy and wild and free. When there weren’t corners of the earth that one hid away. Minji longs for those days again. Yearns for peace. For a different fate. <br/><br/>Much has changed in her lifetime. More mourning than any should ever have to. However the amount of grief, there is a duty and purpose Minji cannot ignore. A duty that the elves held onto until they could no longer and Minji was forced to continue. No matter what. Until the end. Something she could not do hidden in the shadows. Something that no one had ever attempted before. <br/><br/>“It was never meant for me to be safe,” she says. Yoohyeon’s brow furrows and Minji only smiles. “Eat. You’ll need all the strength to bud your wings.”<br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>Before there was a wolf, there was a falcon. <br/><br/>The war came long after man first walked the earth. All the folk and man resided together, helping one another. The elves and the leaders of man found a way to live harmoniously, aiding where one fell short. They were happy. The earth sang and nature blossomed and bloomed. <br/><br/>Then man became greedy. The folk were more than the numbers of man and the folk held wonders and powers and riches that nature gifted them that the clay didn’t give to them. And so they sought to take. <br/><br/>The folk turned to the elves, asking their aid in protection and so the elves placed themselves on the frontlines to combat those who were once friend that became foe. But man had stolen gifts of fire from the Imperial Court of the fae and learned incantations of magic from the warlocks and witches of the canyons who tamed and nurtured the dragons. They turned these gifts into weapons the way they were not meant to be wielded and many were lost. <br/><br/>Minji watched as her friends were taken from her. She watched until she could not stand back any longer and took up a javelin to fight. <br/><br/>The war was bloody. It was painful. Minji suffered blows that laid her out on the brink of death surrounded by lifeless bodies and fire and cries and terrors and horrors. <br/><br/>Minji cried herself, hot tears streaking her face. She couldn’t get up. Blood oozed out of a fatal wound and she breathed in shallow breaths, waiting for the end to take her on. <br/><br/>Eyes closed and she sobbed because she knew. She knew the wars would never end. She knew that they might not happen on battlefields anymore but they would continue for centuries to come, shunning the folk future and further away, pushing them into the shadows—into only myths and fiction and extinction. She knew that nature would not be strong enough to withstand what was to come next and man would win. They would win with stone and metal, and black smoke that bellowed from great, metallic beasts would choke the air and injure the sky. She knew they would win and the earth would weep until all was finished. <br/><br/>Just as Minji was finished. <br/><br/>She heard the flap of wings, loud and unmistakable, and opened her eyes to see the sun eclipsed by the figure of a woman that landed in front of her. <br/><br/>Blonde hair rippled in the wind and wings of black that faded into gold folded against a back. Her eyes were like fire, red around her pupils with a flare of orange like sun rays that circled around it.<br/><br/>She was adorned in golden, leather armor, the strips of the pleats of her skirt splitting over thighs as she walked toward Minji. At her hip, she held a sword in a scabbard etched with a name in a language that no other could speak than the folk the weapon belonged to. <br/><br/>Minji blinked, the life in her had nearly faded. She knew she didn’t have much more time. Not if there was a valkyrie standing before her. <br/><br/>“Minji of The Elves, Keeper of Time,” spoke the valkyrie, her voice bold and booming. Her stature was small but it meant nothing to the enormous power she held as a valkyrie. “You fought valiantly even though it is not your place.”<br/><br/>The elves came in many forms and many titles. Some were called to be warriors, others scholars, sages, and artists. It was how they taught the folk when the earth was still young and how man learned the things that they did. Then there was one like Minji. One who was called the Keeper.<br/><br/>She alone was born at the beginning of time, first amongst elves, and it was the accounts of time that she was tasked to hold. As many times as it repeated. She held the secrets of past and present and was granted the ability to see glimpses of the future, none of which she could ever tell. Especially that of the future. Only wait and watch as the images that slipped some nights into her dreams or flickered behind her lids when she closed her eyes played out in reality. <br/><br/>“They will need you,” said the valkyrie. “You are one of few left of your kind and the only of your title, so understand that I cannot take you away.”<br/><br/>Minji nodded. She understood. A Keeper was the treasure of the earth. Because of that, Minji hid the truth of what she was, pretending to be merely a scholar, teaching those who came to her the ways of planting and harvesting the land. She knew that she would live her lifetimes alone as a Keeper but it broke her heart even more to know that the rest of the elves would not stand to prosper much longer. <br/><br/>“You’ll have to protect them, the folk.”<br/><br/>Because she was one who held all. Knew all. Even if she didn’t yet know all that she knew. She was the guide. The rememberer. The one who would stand even at the end of days when the universe had grown old, the earth bruised, and nature fraught. To lose her was to lose everything and this earth could not be forgotten. <br/><br/>“I’m not a warrior,” she said.<br/><br/>The valkyrie regarded her for a moment. “You will find another way.”<br/><br/>Minji didn't understand but she nodded. She would do the best she could for the folk that her kind were given dominion over. <br/><br/>“Are you ready?”<br/><br/>The valkyrie crouched and leaned over her. Fingers touched her lips and parted them open where the valkyrie hovered her mouth over. Giving a sigh, wisps of white like fog breathed from the valkyrie’s mouth into Minji’s. She sucked them in and felt life return. <br/><br/>“You still have much to heal.”<br/><br/>She held onto the valkyrie’s neck who cradled her in her arms as she took flight, taking them away from the battlefield where she sliced the sky with her golden sword drawn from her hip and flew them into a realm beyond. <br/><br/>She learned the valkyrie’s name. It was Bora and Bora was beautiful as all valkyrie were. <br/><br/>Minji spent her time recuperating in the Valley Between. A place where only valkyrie or those whose essence resided in the middle, waiting their fated resting places, could go The essence of those swirled above the Valley like clouds that moved like smoke, flashing white lightning when a life was given reentry to the earth of living and red when they were taken to the Below. <br/><br/>Bora opened her dwelling—her nest—for Minji to stay. It was high in one of the numerous trees of the Valley. It had no walls, only drapes like that of a tent, curtaining off sections throughout. One side was pulled open so that it looked out over the fields of the Valley filled with other valkyrie, some who occasionally took flight with their wings of many colors spread and soaring as if it was as easy as breathing. <br/><br/>Her soiled clothes were exchanged for robes of fine linen and her violet hair washed to a shine smelling of jasmine. <br/><br/>“Wear this.” Bora took strands of her hair and tied them around Minji’s wrist where they weaved like a golden band, hardening like metal. “It will keep the Valley from trying to take you.”<br/><br/>The Valley Between wasn’t made for those of the living. It hungered and thrived on the essence of beings. If it wasn’t for Bora, Minji’s would’ve been absorbed into the wisps above, forever stuck and never able to cross to either side. <br/><br/>“I’ll return you once you are better but it’s not safe for you to be on the living earth for now.”<br/><br/>“Thank you,” was all that Minji could offer. <br/><br/>There were no riches that a valkyrie could ever desire. There were no gifts that could amount to more than what they already had. Minji wasn’t sure how to repay Bora for sparing her. She didn’t believe Bora wanted or needed anything. She was bold. She was beautiful. She was powerful. She took pride in her purpose, delivering those slain on the earth to their proper resting places. <br/><br/>It wasn’t until many suns had passed when Minji saw that there was one thing that Bora did desire. The one thing she did not have. That no valkyrie had. And that was love. <br/><br/>She would catch Bora’s eyes drifting to her from across the room when Minji was reading through parchments on herbs and plants and elements that were best for healing, for Bora knew many remedies that Minji did not.<br/><br/>She would feel Bora’s desire in the soft brush of a touch as she redressed Minji’s wounds, voice soft as she told Minji of ancient words and incantations and spells that had disappeared with the passing of folk who no longer existed that could be used for evil but could be used for good in the hands of those who weren’t greedy for power. <br/><br/>She caught a hint of Bora’s tenderness as she guided Minji’s head back in the basin as she washed her hair with purposeful and gentle fingers, humming songs of the valkyrie and listening to Minji who told tales of her existence as an elf, of the things she had seen, of the friends she had known and lost. <br/><br/>She sensed it when Bora reached for her when they sat at the edges of the nest, legs dangling and eyes on the Valley that was both beautiful and ghoulish, only to let her hand drop before it could touch the skin of Minji’s arm or tuck a strand of hair behind her ear or caress her thigh. <br/><br/>But one time Minji didn’t let her hand drop. She grabbed it and held it. Bora gasped because it was the first time Minji had touched her. It was the first time they’d done so outside of need instead of want. <br/><br/>Minji stared into Bora’s eyes and warmed in the sunset color of them, weaving their fingers together. <br/><br/>“It’s forbidden,” said Bora, drawing her hand away. Minji hadn’t known a valkyrie who had ever shown fear but she saw it on Bora’s face at that moment. <br/><br/>Valkyries could not love. To love was to weaken them. It created bias, made it hard for them to follow the rules of life and death that they governed. To love was to blind, to make exceptions. And to make exceptions would disturb the balance of earth and time. To love was a sentence of death, a risk rarely taken.<br/><br/>“How terrible it is to only know life and death but never love.”<br/><br/>“That is our fate.”<br/><br/>“Then let this be a thanks instead,” said Minji. “You deserve that. For everything you’ve done for me and shown me.”<br/><br/>Bora looked into each of Minji’s lavender eyes. There was uncertainty on her but there was also want. Curiosity. Defiance. Longing. “I’ll accept your thanks.”<br/><br/>Minji held out her hand and Bora took it, allowing her to pull her into her space. She gasped when they pressed together, hidden behind the curtain of her nest lit only by candles and draped in shadows like secrets. Minji could feel Bora’s dual hearts racing, each as hard as the other. <br/><br/>“How did I think I could resist what even the earth of the living could not give up?” Bora whispered, breath brushing across lips. <br/><br/>Minji looked deep into her eyes. She didn’t think she had seen anything as fiery as Bora’s eyes. “Perhaps it is the earth that wanted to give you something, too.”<br/><br/>And so Bora kissed her. <br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>Paws thunder against the ground as Siyeon runs. Minji clutches the fur at her neck while Yoohyeon’s arms circle her waist from where she sits behind. <br/><br/>There are many entrances into the Sage Court, tucked into secret places amongst the woods, but there is only one that leads to the throne room where the Sage Queen sits. <br/><br/>“Here,” says Yoohyeon. <br/><br/>Siyeon slows to a stop. <br/><br/>Minji steps down and offers Yoohyeon a hand, steadying her as she climbs off. She holds her hands for a few seconds until the ache in her back subsides and looks up. The woods around then are dense. Sunlight spills through a mix of leafless and evergreen branches above, striking a fine dust of snow on the ground. Wind bites and Minji sees Yoohyeon shiver in her cloak. It’s quiet. <br/><br/>“Are you sure this is the place?” asks Minji. <br/><br/>“Yes, but…” Yoohyeon begins to walk and they follow, passing through barks of trees and bushes and thickets. “I don’t understand.”<br/><br/>They stop in a small clearing. The tips of rocks peek out from the snow making a faerie ring. This is the place. Minji can feel it but there’s something wrong. <br/><br/>Siyeon growls and Minji turns around to her. She blows out a hard puff of air from her nose and paws the ground where she lowers her nose to sniff. <br/><br/>Minji’s eyes narrow. “Something happened here.” She looks to Yoohyeon. “Can you read the earth?”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon crouches and presses her hands to the ground. Eyes close for a second before they snap back open and she gasps, drawing back to her feet with a wince from moving too fast. <br/><br/>“No—” she turns away from them toward the faerie ring. <br/><br/>Words in fae speak fly off her lips, foreign and sharp. Minji understands them and she watches as the earth answers her call to open the door of the court. Vines slither across the ground and stretch upward, spiraling together to form an archway that stands in the middle of the faerie ring. Through it is darkness and Yoohyeon leaps into it. <br/><br/>“Wait!” Minji hurries after, Siyeon on her heels. <br/><br/>On the other side, a heavy wooden door shuts at their backs, trapping them between walls made of moss and dirt. Torches, long since burned out, line each side. <br/><br/>Minji takes one and whispers, conjuring a pale purple flame on the end that lights up the rounded corridor. It stretches deeper and Minji follows the path Yoohyeon ran off. The deeper they draw the warmer it grows. It smells of earth but there’s more than that. Something putrid. A stink that Minji knows all too well. <br/><br/>She sees the sprays of blue-green splashed on the walls before she sees them. The fae. It’s guards at first, their emerald armor glistening in the purple flame with lips gone black in death and cheeks sunken in decay. <br/><br/>Other bodies follow and Minji slows when she finds Yoohyeon standing in the throne room amongst a sea of them. Not a life in sight. Not a pair of wings left. They lay out lifeless and empty. One after another after another. <br/><br/>It reminds Minji of a battlefield. Of the one she once stood on. Her heart races, her stomach churns, her chest heaves in heavy breaths. There are so many. So much. Bodies and bodies, blood and more blood. Minji’s teeth grit as memories flit back to her of her friends slain by blades and arrows and fire. Of folk that she has seen torn down as lifetimes pass. <br/><br/>Yoohyeon steps forward, approaching the throne at the end of the room. It’s large, carved out of the trunk of a tree and adorned with flowers that have wilted and dried out. In it is the body of the queen, her silver hair tied back with vines, her eyes shut, her hand curled around the hilt of a spear carved out of the strongest wood. <br/><br/>Yoohyeon whimpers a single word in her tongue: <em>Mother. </em><br/><br/>It tears Minji apart. <br/><br/>Knees drop to the Queen’s feet and Yoohyeon cries, face in the lap of the fearless, Sage leader. Something cold touches Minji’s hand and she looks down to find Siyeon. Lifting her muzzle she licks her tongue along her cheek where wetness has run. Minji quickly wipes the rest of her tears off and curves an arm around Siyeon’s neck, thankful for her comfort. <br/><br/>She waits until Yoohyeon’s shoulders stop shaking before approaching. Yoohyeon jumps when Minji places a hand to her back, watery, red eyes staring up at her in a loss and heaviness that Minji knows well. But there’s more than that. There’s rage. There’s anger. There’s hatred. <br/><br/>“The earth mourns this loss with you,” says Minji. Yoohyeon sniffles. A fresh wave of tears trickles down her soft cheeks. Minji brushes them away with the back of her fingers. “Do you want to avenge them?” <br/><br/>Yoohyeon’s eyes widened before they pull away. Her neck turns back to the guardian that is now gone. Even in her death, she looks fierce and Minji believes that is where Yoohyeon gets her strength from. That’s where she gets the certainty in the way she tells Minji—<br/><br/>“Yes.”<br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>“We can’t be here,” Bora told her. “We can’t be seen.”<br/><br/>“Where will we go?” Her place was lost in the war and the elves were scattered, gone into hidden places that she didn’t know. <br/><br/>“We’ll build you a place.”<br/><br/>Bora flew them far and deep into the trees, away from mountains and seas. Away from vast plains and to a corner of the earth where magic could be tasted in the air and the ground vibrated with its carnal essence. <br/><br/>When Minji’s feet touched the grass, she gasped. Images like a storm burst through her mind and she fell to her knees, overwhelmed by the rush. They flickered so quickly that she couldn’t catch them all but what she caught glimpses of stuck. <br/><br/>She knew these woods once belonged to the unicorns, a creature so majestic and pure that no mortal eyes could befall it. That their blood, more potent than any potion, and bones where they had passed away were part of the earth Minji stood. <br/><br/>She knew that many faces and beings would come into the woods broken and leave mended. How? She didn’t know but she knew they would be transformed for better and that their days would be longer. <br/><br/>She knew one day the woods would be broken down, barks used as lumber for dwellings and gray stone laid where rivers once flowed, stretching miles and miles and miles, flanked by giant structures that shimmered with plains of glass in the sun. <br/><br/>“Minji?”<br/><br/>She gasped, neck snapping up, the film of white that had taken over her eyes swirling away to bring back lavender. <br/><br/>“What did you see?”<br/><br/>“So many things. So…” Fingers touched her cheeks and drew back wet. She didn’t know she had started to cry. <br/><br/>“We don’t have to stay here.”<br/><br/>“No.” Minji took Bora’s hand as she stood up. “This is exactly where I need to be. This is where…” she spun around, gazing at all that was. She was alight inside. Her blood felt like flames. “This is home.”<br/><br/>And so they built a cottage high in the trees. As they built, Minji healed and Bora learned the intricacies of the things that blossomed in her chest for the elf. They spent nights in the tree cottage, wrapped in each other’s arms, and during the day, Bora served as the valkyrie she was called to be while Minji studied spells and fire and air and water and earth.<br/><br/>When Bora was done, she would come flying, landing on the deck where Minji would be, reading a book as she waited. Bora would extend her wings and beckon Minji in who kissed her deep and crushed against her with feathers wrapped around her back. <br/><br/>That’s how they would spend their evening, wrapped in feathers and skin, hunkered deep into blankets bunched up like a nest. Minji would let Bora explore her with lips and teeth and tongue. With hands that had never touched this way before. With hearts that beat so wild with nerves and affection and newness that Minji feared they would burst from her chest. <br/><br/>And Bora would be comforted by Minji’s words, accepting her thanks over and over and over again as she in turn appreciated the elf who gave her something she could’ve never dreamed of. Something that Bora knew was never limited to her and would only expand further than all those Minji had already come into contact with. <br/><br/>“Your love runs long and deep,” said Bora. “Like a mother’s.”<br/><br/>It was the only thing Bora could compare it to. She had taken many mothers away from the earth. Ones who stood like shields in front of their children. Ones who fought back for their kin. Ones who could not be shaken by fear. She told Minji this much and how Minji had the same spirit inside of her. <br/><br/>“Have you figured out what you are going to do?” A lantern burned overhead with a flickering flame, shining on their naked bodies. Bora was tan in places Minji was pale and the colors of their skin mixed well together. “For the folk?”<br/><br/>Minji ran her fingers through blonde hair. It was as soft as corn silk. “I want to heal,” she said. “That is what I’ll do.”<br/><br/>She would give back to the folk like Bora gave to her. Second chances. Renewed life. More days. No sword or spear or javelin would ever touch her hands again. She would equip herself in a new way, learn more than she knew before, more than she had from the parchments and teachings of Bora, and gain knowledge from the other folk this time instead of giving it. She would grow strong. Powerful. <br/><br/>“Do you not seek revenge?”<br/><br/>“No.” She tilted her head up to look into Bora’s sunburst eyes. “I seek renewal but maybe also vengeance.”<br/><br/>“Will you?” She ran a finger from Minji’s throat up beneath her chin that she drew up close enough to kiss her lips. <br/><br/>Minji hummed against her mouth. “I don’t know.”<br/><br/>“What if someone asked you to? For their sake.”<br/><br/>Her brow wrinkled as she moved closer, nestling into the warmth of Bora’s wing that cocooned around her. “I don’t want to be like them. I don’t want to be like man.”<br/><br/>“Man uses steel and iron. Stolen gifts and curses.” Bora took her hand and traced a finger against her palm. “Nature <em>gave </em>us these.” She brought those fingers to Minji’s lips. “And this.”<br/><br/>Minji kissed her fingers, the sudden show of affection making Bora gasp. “What would I do with them?”<br/><br/>“You are a Keeper, Minji. You will know what to do and exactly when to do it.” She cupped her face in her palm, stroking the pallid skin of her cheek with a thumb. “You aren’t a warrior but you are a protector. Sometimes you have to draw your sword.”<br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>The air feels colder when they resurface. <br/><br/>Minji steps out of the faerie ring, leaving the archway behind. Boots kick snow and she drops to her knees, eyes facing the direction of the villages beyond the borders of trees.<br/><br/>“Minji, wait.” Siyeon crouches in front of her in half form. She’s burning hot enough that her skin can’t feel the cold. She stares deep into Minji’s eyes with concern and question. “Are you sure?”<br/><br/>Minji bites her bottom lip. She remembers long ago when a trio of vampyrs knocked on her door in the dead of night. Minji remembers waking up to find Siyeon cowering in a corner, stuck in a form in between with black ears flat against her head, tail wrapped around her ankles, eyes burning gold, mouth full of fangs, and nails lengthened to claws. <br/><br/>Minji hadn’t seen Siyeon that way since the first few months after rescuing her from the riverbank. She didn’t have to ask who the vampyrs on her doorstep were. She knew. She knew Siyeon held fear for the vampyrs but none would’ve sent her into such a state if the ones who were there weren’t <em>them.</em> Her tormentors. <br/><br/>Minji remembers the anger that filled her. The way she felt it like a storm over the sea, raging in their stomach. She opened the door and found their crimson eyes. They looked to her in desperation until one smirked. Minji met their eye, saw their mouth curl at the corners as their nose flared, breathing in the smells of the cottage that rushed out at them. <br/><br/><em>“That pet doesn’t belong to you,” </em>they said. <br/><br/><em>"More to me than they ever to you.”</em><br/><br/>She remembers the way the words formed on her lips and her hands flew, conjuring a spell. She remembers casting it on the vampyrs, watching as flesh and bone turned to fur and wings and they flirted away as bats, gone into the darkness and never returned. <br/><br/>Minji can feel the same rush of power now. She feels the tingling in her fingertips, she tastes the words. She feels the storm in her stomach and it’s fierce. She knows what Bora would say to her. <br/><br/><em>“A mother’s love always strikes when it is needed most.”</em><br/><br/>And a mother she is. To the folk. To this earth. <br/><br/>“It must be done,” Minji mutters to Siyeon. <br/><br/>“But—” her eyes flicker to Yoohyeon. <br/><br/>“Trust in me. This one last time.”<br/><br/>Fur ripples across Siyeon’s skin and her muzzle regrows as she steps away. Minji turns over her shoulder finding Yoohyeon standing there. Her tears have stopped for now but Minji knows more will come. To lose an entire people, to be left alone, was painful. Minji would never wish it on anyone and she grieves for Yoohyeon. <br/><br/>Eyes cast back around and Minji presses her hands to the ground, snow melting into dampness beneath her palms. <br/><br/><em>“Sometimes you have to draw your sword.”</em><br/><br/>She chants, words spilling off her lips. She feels all the energies of the fae that were slain draw into her, filling her to the brim. She feels it slither through her like serpents, building deep in her stomach, saturating her essence with those erased. <br/><br/>“So let it be done,” she snarls, ending the incantation. <br/><br/>Power bursts, exploding in her like the final moments of the end. <br/><br/>Head thrown back, Minji yells, eyes open and glowing green, the same color as the swirls of magic that spew out of her mouth like smoke. Her entire body radiates with the glow, wisps of it spinning and spiraling around her as they shoot to the sky above where clouds begin to churn. <br/><br/>Blue goes black and white clouds go gray. Thunder cracks and lightning flashes, violent and terrifying. Rain falls, icy needles striking the treetops that don’t touch the ground. Not in the woods. Miles and miles away, the rain pours over cobblestone streets, taverns, and cottages. It swells rivers and ponds and lakes. It leaks into spaces. It churns up the earth. It causes the land to slide. It brings destruction and desolation. A plague. It brings suffering.<br/><br/>Minji pants as she tosses a smile to the sky.<br/><br/>Thus is the beginning of the new end. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The storms last for seven days and seven nights. <br/><br/>Minji stands at the edge of the woods, staring down into the villages that fan along the base of the hills. From here, she can see for miles, witnessing the extent of the destruction. <br/><br/>She thinks back to the second millennium. When man crawled from the clay. She thinks of how her people gave to them, helped them, taught them. How peace was upturned. How pain and sadness and suffering entered like a thief in the night. How they had no choice but to accept that which came. <br/><br/>And Minji wonders why it is that things had to happen the way that they did. Over and over and over. Why she was the one chosen to endure it. Caught in a cycle she didn’t realize she was in until the first ending came and she burst to life again, budding from one of the Garden of Dawn trees before the other elves swelled ripe and dropped like fruits and the rest of nature spawned the folk soon after. <br/><br/>Time, she knows, is a beast of its own and does as it wants. No matter what. Time controlled everything. Even the most powerful of life and death. How cruel, Minji thinks. But even the most powerful of forces could be thwarted and one day it would kneel. <br/><br/>The beast would be tamed and Minji would hold its leash. <br/><br/>Turning her back to the villages, Minji ventures back through the woods. The trek is long on foot. The woods stretch for days before they open to waters that kiss mountains beyond it. Much of it has already been touched by man, claiming bits and pieces of nature that still does its best to fight back. <br/><br/>Two trees present themselves like twins with branches that crisscross overhead. Minji whispers as she passes between them, crossing the warm, buzzing film of a portal into the yard that fans around the base of the tree that holds the tree cottage. <br/><br/>The wards seal the space up behind her and she pushes back the hood of her cape as she ascends the steps, finding Yoohyeon sitting out on the deck. <br/><br/>She’s been quiet. Minji passes her with a gentle smile. The cold has descended into freezing but Yoohyeon doesn’t seem to feel it. She doesn’t seem to want to feel it. <br/><br/>Inside, Minji heads for the kitchen, lights a fire on the stove, and preps a kettle. There’s something different about the air this time. Something different churning in the heavens and groaning in the earth. She feels it deep in her bones and tries to whisk it away but it sticks like an incessant itch. She wonders what it means. She wonders what is in the shadows of the time ahead that she can’t see. <br/><br/>“Minji.”<br/><br/>She knows Siyeon’s voice like her own heartbeat now. She can hear the concern in it though it’s light. Minji turns over to her. Her short hair is pulled back making her jaw sharp. She’s handsomely alluring and Minji’s heart skips knowing she will have this love forever. Finally forever. Hopefully forever. <br/><br/>“What is it?”<br/><br/>She steps closer, voice lowering. “What are we going to do with the faerie?”<br/><br/>Minji bites into her lip and turns away, eyes scanning the wooden shelf that holds tea leaves in small, glass jars. The mention of Yoohyeon does something to her that she can’t place. “We keep her.”<br/><br/>“But—”<br/><br/>“If she wants to stay.” A jar of purple and green tea leaves plucks up into her fingers. She fills it into a small, metal orb and drops it into a cup. “We can take one more.”<br/><br/>She finally meets Siyeon’s eyes again. She’s been thinking about this for days. Ever since witnessing Yoohyeon’s anguish over the fall of the Sage court. It weighs on Minji’s heart heavily. Everything about Yoohyeon does, tugging at her from the inside. She feels a sort of closeness to her in their shared loss. Something that makes it difficult for her to send her off alone. <br/><br/>“After everything is done—”<br/><br/>“I’ll explain everything to her but now is not that time.” She reaches out, fingers brushing across the curve of Siyeon’s jaw. “Are you worried?”<br/><br/>Siyeon’s shakes her head, chin tilting up as Minji draws closer. The fingers on her face run back to behind her neck where Minji plays with the soft strands of hair at her nape. “You told me not to worry.”<br/><br/>“But you worry.” Minji leans in, letting their noses tap and hears Siyeon suck in a breath. <br/><br/>Siyeon leans in enough for their lips to brush and Minji smiles when she hears the wolf give a soft growl at being evaded. “I do. You’ve worked so hard.”<br/><br/>“I’ll just have to work harder.” She allows their lips to press for a moment. “I saw fire when I spoke to her. It’s different this time.”<br/><br/>Siyeon pulls back to look into Minji’s eyes, her golden ones widening. “Does that mean she’s meant to be?”<br/><br/>“It means we have to keep her. For now.”<br/><br/>Siyeon’s brow furrows and Minji kisses her, instantly taking the wrinkles away. Eyes close and Minji sees in fragments across her lids. Old images now distorted. Broken. Spliced and conflicting. There are disturbances in places that there shouldn’t be—used to not be. Minji finds faith in them. <br/><br/>“Minji?”<br/><br/>Their lips break with a smack. Minji presses her forehead to Siyeon’s, panting hard. A hand presses to her chest where her heart hammers. It hammers so hard Minji can feel it herself. <br/><br/>“When the snow falls again,” she says and opens her eyes where white fades back into lavender. Covering Siyeon’s hand on her chest with hers, she gives it a squeeze. “That is when.”<br/><br/>The kettle whistles and Minji draws away to pour water into the cup that she places on a tray. <br/><br/>“Take this to her?”<br/><br/>Siyeon nods and grabs the tray. “When will you—”<br/><br/>“Tonight,” she answers before Siyeon can finish. There are times she doesn’t have to finish. Minji just knows. Just <em>feels.</em> “I’ll ask if she wants to stay tonight.”<br/><br/>She watches as Siyeon exits and makes her way to Yoohyeon who jumps. She sees Siyeon bid an apology and extends her arm to keep from getting close to the faerie. Yoohyeon takes the mug with a blush and a thanks. Beginning to pull off, Siyeon stops. She lowers down on the deck beside her. Together they sit in silence. <br/><br/>Minji turns from them to prepare herself a cup as she wonders what comes next. It has been a long time since she has wondered what comes next. It makes her restless as much as it excites her. <br/><br/>All she knows, all she feels, is that the pieces are falling just as they must. <br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>It’s after five hundred lifetimes that Minji tells her. And she tells her again and again and again for five hundred more until the one that Siyeon won’t ever forget. <br/><br/>“Don’t come near me!” <br/><br/>Minji stood back, her hands held up. Burning, golden eyes stare back at her from a face half morphed. Black fur spiked around Siyeon’s face, down the sides of her jaw and along her chin. Her claws were long, black, and sharp, protruding from hands that contorted in shape, struggling between the shift of pelt and skins. Her back arched, tail stuck out from the base of her naked spine and the bones in her legs were cracked. <br/><br/>Another growl ripped through Siyeon as the change beckoned to her. In the sky sat the waxing moon. Almost full. Moon sickness was a troubling thing for any lycan but even worse for ones who hadn’t learned to properly withstand it. Something pups were taught but Siyeon was taken before she was able to learn.<br/><br/>Minji could tell that she was in pain. It had taken her days to find Siyeon after she fled, hiding from her in shame of the call of the moon. Every time Minji got close, Siyeon would run and find a new place to hide. She knew she could use a spell to draw her out but she didn’t want to do that. She wanted Siyeon to come to her herself, not by force. She never wanted anything between them to be by force. She would always give Siyeon a choice. <br/><br/>“Siyeon.”<br/><br/>“No!” She cowered, drawing further back against the rock of the hollow of a small cave she had found. <br/><br/>Minji lowered, voice pleading. “Siyeon, I’m not afraid of you.” She never had been and never would be. She took another step forward. “You need me.”<br/><br/>“No! I—” Her nose flared, catching Minji’s scent and her pupils blew out, nearly erasing all the gold. She was <em>hungry. </em>She was restless. She needed many things. Things that Minji would give her. Minji would give all of her, let Siyeon devour her whole. “Please, don’t come any closer. I can’t— I don’t know how to control it.”<br/><br/>Her bones cracked again, forcing her down onto four, crooked limbs. She moaned in pain and futile effort. Minji’s knees arched on the stone as she crawled for her not backing down. <br/><br/>“Listen to me, Siyeon.” She ducked her head to meet her eyes. “You’re not going to hurt me. You’ve never hurt me.”<br/><br/>“How do you know that?” she snarled, voice distorted from the elongated teeth in her mouth. “How—” she struggled against a voice box made for howls and not for speech. “How do you know?”<br/><br/>“Take my hand.” Minji extended her arm.<br/><br/>Siyeon flinched away from it. “I don’t— I can’t— I don’t want to hurt you.”<br/><br/>“Take my hand, Siyeon.” Minji moved closer still, just in reach for Siyeon to grab. “Please, trust me. Take my hand.”<br/><br/>Eyes flickered to her palm before finding lavender. Siyeon trembled as she moved, hunched over and movements awkward as she stretched out her arm and let her clawed fingers curl around Minji’s hand. Catching hold, Minji yanked, pulling Siyeon into her who yelped. <br/><br/>“Reveal!” Minji shouted, the palm of her other hand pressing into Siyeon’s face. Fingers dug into the skin around her head and Minji held on, gritting her teeth as she closed her eyes and pulled the threads of her memories from herself and thrust them into Siyeon’s mind. <br/><br/>Years flashed by. More years than any mortal or even immortal would ever be able to count. Thousands and thousands and a thousand more stacked on top of one timeline after the other. Each moment with Siyeon from the first passing of time that she drew the lycan from the waters to the ones after, each a little different, but each where Siyeon became hers. <br/><br/>With a gasp, Siyeon drew back, her pelt receding with it leaving her in skins, flat against the stone behind her. Eyes blinked with long, black lashes. She stared. All she could do was stare. Minji waited in those moments for everything to settle the way it always did. <br/><br/>“Minji?” she said her name like she had spoken it a million times. No questions. No doubts. No uncertainties. Just her name. <br/><br/>“Hello, again, my love.”<br/><br/>Siyeon sucked in a breath, hand slapping over her mouth. Tears sprang to her eyes, spilling over in a way she could not control. They weren’t tears of sadness. She was overwhelmed. <br/><br/>“But you’re not supposed to— no one else is supposed to know!”<br/><br/>“I don’t care.” <br/><br/>She hadn’t cared for many of times. She no longer found it fair. She no longer wanted to be a slave to what she was called to be. To time that was never forgiving. She no longer wanted to do it all alone, again and again, futilely trying to force change in places that she couldn’t because there was one fate and one end. <br/><br/>“I have loved you a thousand times.” Minji moved to her, taking her face in her hands and thumbed the wetness from her cheeks. Her eyes shined a different gold this time. A little brighter. Full of knowledge and truth. Full of love that she now knew. “Each too short.”<br/><br/>“But this time…”<br/><br/>“You will forever be mine.” Minji paused to look into each of her eyes. “If that is what you still want.”<br/><br/>Siyeon claimed her lips, lighting Minji up with her heat that simmered like the sun. “Yes. A thousand and one times, yes.”<br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>Minji inspects Yoohyeon’s back. She ghosts her fingers over the old slashes and gashes now turned to scars. They’ll always be there as pitiful reminders of what she had to endure. <br/><br/>“You’re healing well,” she notes. There’s no more need for sutures. The skin where her wings were uprooted had come together neatly. “I can pack oils and herbs for you to take when you’re ready to go.”<br/><br/>“Go?” Yoohyeon’s eyes follow Minji as she gets up from where she was sitting behind her on the bed. <br/><br/>Her kit clinks as she sits it on the desk and begins to clean up the items she used. Minji meets Yoohyeon’s eyes. It’s dim inside the room due to night hanging on the window. Her pupils are a little wider than usual. Her silver hair frames her soft face and Minji gets the image of a crown sitting atop her head. One of silver, glittering in jewels. <br/><br/>“There are other courts,” she says as she replaces vials and bandages into the chest. “Perhaps the Imperial or even Regal Court may take you in. If you’d like, Siyeon and I can accompany you to speak with them as witnesses of what happened.”<br/><br/>“The Sage Queen and the Imperial King were not in agreement.” She says it all in a bit of a rush. “They won’t take someone from Sage. Especially their princess.” <br/><br/>Minji stills to examine her. She tries to find a flicker in Yoohyeon’s eyes again, a fragment of what is to come, but she fails. <br/><br/>“And high mountain hollows aren’t made well for the Sage,” Minji notes. The Regal Court resides in places hard to breathe. It is what has kept them from meeting a total end by man and what has made them prideful, boasting about their wings, the largest of all fae, able to take them high enough to kiss the clouds. <br/><br/>Yoohyeon’s head drops. “I suppose I could...return home.”<br/><br/>“No.” Minji walks back to her, tilting her chin that had lowered up to meet her face. “If you would like, you can stay here.”<br/><br/>“Really?”<br/><br/>Minji can’t help her smile. “There’s plenty room, and with your Sage powers, you can help me with the gardens and greenhouses.”<br/><br/>“Someone as powerful as you doesn’t need my help.”<br/><br/>Minji’s eyebrows lift, heart giving a nervous flutter in her chest. <br/><br/>“What you did, not even all the courts combined would be strong enough to create a plague like that.” Yoohyeon’s head tilts. “Who are you?”<br/><br/>“A friend. A mother. A healer. I’m what you seek me to be and what this earth has made me to be.” She tucks a strand of hair behind Yoohyeon’s ear and there it is. A flicker. A glimpse. Brown and green. “What would you like me to be?”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon thinks for a moment, her brow wrinkling as she does. “A new home.”<br/><br/>“Then, Yoohyeon, Princess of Sage, welcome home.”<br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>A faerielight stone glows pale blue in Minji’s hand, beams seeping through the cracks between her fingers where she clutches it in her palm. It was a gift given to her by a fae of the Admiral Court. <br/><br/>The stone was one they used to see in the very depths of the sea where they lived beneath, their eyes vibrant blues as the sky and scales blooming along their skin in a rainbow shade of colors. Man called them sirens, for the songs they sang to the creatures of the waters they nurtured were beautiful and alluring but the folk have known and will always know them as the most majestic of the fae. <br/><br/>It’s dark. The new moon sits high, hidden in shadows leaving stars to twinkle their vibrant sparks against the expanse of midnight blue. <br/><br/>The winds are strong tonight over the plains, the earth long dried out and dead. The ground splits beneath her feet, ravaged by sun and heat. In the distance, stands the stone ruins of an old temple. It was once an Imperial Court temple where the fae worshiped the mighty Phoenix and looked over the Embercorns that they rode on their backs like horses with their tails and manes of fire and a single horn of black garnet. <br/><br/>When man stole fire from the Imperial Court, the temple fell. The fae then drew out of the plains and hid in the maze of caves of the desert mountains, far away from man or any being that dared disrupt. The Imperial Court became distrustful and scornful and their kindness close to none to find. <br/><br/>Pillars stretch high even in their ruin. Minji steps between two as she ascends a flight of stone steps that once led through magnificent gates into the run of a throne room. Now all that is left is a slab of distressed rock, walls that have crumbled, and pillars that stand like ghoulish monuments of a past many would like to forget. <br/><br/>Minji slows to a stop. The ground at her feet is scorched from fires burned over and over. Scatters of ash and remains of bone that skin has melted off. The earth around this place vibrates with a fierce, destructive, harsh energy. It churns violently like magma, bubbling just under the surface crying to be unleashed. <br/><br/>Minji ignores it as she reaches into a satchel that rests against her hip and pulls from it a jar of ashes. The top lifts off and she sits it down to retrieve a crooked blade knife. The edge bites as she drags it across her palm and allows blood to drop into the ashes. Something dead mixing with something of life. That is what it took to call on the Phoenix during a night on the crux of newness. <br/><br/>Taking a handful of bloody ashes, Minji sprinkles them onto the ground in a wide circle, whispering old words of an ancient incantation as she paces. Closing the circle, Minji stands back and with a clap of the hands, fire bursts on her palms and she throws it onto the circle of ashes. <br/><br/>“Rise!” she commands. <br/><br/>The ring of flames consumes the circle where it bursts in the center and spins into the form of a bird that towers like the pillars. Its red and orange feathers shimmer like embers and its eyes swirl with flames. Opening its golden beak, it speaks, voice like crashing waves against rock. <br/><br/>“I know your face,” says the Phoenix. “Keeper of Time. You ask for my keys only to have man destroy my garden.”<br/><br/>The words strike Minji deep. She knew nothing good would come of what she did. Of whispering the secrets of the woods to man, giving them the ability to slip into such a sacred place, even if she knew it had to be done. This time, it had to be done. What she didn’t know was who it would bring and the fae that would suffer. That Yoohyeon would become a new variable, a hidden link in a timeline of unknowns and uncertainties. <br/><br/>Even if she knows what must be done, it still hurts. Her heart still aches. She sees the images of the slain faeries in her mind and she clenches her fists at her sides. She hates it. More so that it was by her hand, betrayed her kind to the likes of man, that they were laid to waste. <br/><br/>“It is no more your garden than it is mine,” she says and it’s true. They are both grown from it and nothing more. <br/><br/>The Phoenix roars. “Do you know what you have done!”<br/><br/>“I know all that has been done, is being done and will be.”<br/><br/>The Phoenix lowers, bringing its massive head to eye level. They burn hot. Hotter than even Siyeon’s pelt. Like the surface of the midday sun. It brings sweat across Minji’s brow and trickles it in rivers down her back. “What is the meaning of this?” <br/><br/>“You know that I am forbidden to share the future with you.”<br/><br/>It’s head tilts, blazing eyes narrowing. “Then this is written?”<br/><br/>“It will be.”<br/><br/>The Phoenix looks at her for a long moment, melting her in its presence. Minji stands firm. She has no fear of phoenixes. She has no fear of any being that lives. Not any longer. She has power now greater than when she first began. Power enough to make even death tremble. <br/><br/>The Phoenix returns to full height, staring down at her as if she was merely an insect. “Why have you summoned me again, Keeper?”<br/><br/>“Forgive me, Phoenix, but there is one more thing that I need.”<br/><br/>“And what is that?”<br/><br/>The corners of her mouth kink upward. “You.”<br/><br/>An arrow pulls from beneath her cape, the black, obsidian head glinting in the flame of the Phoenix’s eyes. <br/><br/>The Phoenix screeches, fear sparking at the knowledge of what an arrowhead of the kind can do. Fire spits from its mouth. Minji speaks a spell and throws up her hand, catching the flame in her palm and tosses it back like a whip that coils around the Phoenix’s body, pinning its wings down so it can’t take flight. <br/><br/>The Phoenix’s cry matches that of Minji’s as she throws the arrow, striking the creature in the chest where the head burrows into its heart. Black blooms where the arrow hits and Minji watches as the Phoenix disintegrates into smoke that she breathes in. Every last bit of blackness fills up her lungs and she burns. <br/><br/>Everything inside of her goes hot. Molten. Her skin lights up. It glows from the inside out, orange and yellow and red, spreading across her face, her neck, along her arms, and down to the soles of her feet like rivers of fire. <br/><br/>She chokes as she falls to her knees, the pain excruciating. She can hardly stand it, but she holds on, groaning as the glow burrows further beneath her skin. <br/><br/>She feels it deep. From her veins to her bones to the marrow. Feels the power of the Phoenix absorb into her very self, fusing with the power she already has until the last licks of flames burn away leaving her in the still darkness alone, steam rising from her skin. <br/><br/>On her hands and knees, she pants, swallowing past the dryness in her throat and the intensity of the scorching power that she wills everything inside of her to tame. <br/><br/>And for the first time, when she closes her eyes, at the end she doesn’t see darkness. <br/><br/>Instead, she sees gold. <br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>It was a scorching afternoon when a fox entered their part of the woods. <br/><br/>Siyeon lifted her ears, hearing them first. Shadows passed across the windows of the tree cottage, curtains drawn open to let in the breeze before a knock tapped on the door. <br/><br/>Minji stilled where she sat at her work desk, grinding herbs into a clay pot. She turned to Siyeon who had risen to her paws, choosing to laze around in the heat in her pelt instead of skins. No one should’ve been able to get past the wards. No one should’ve been able to find them. <br/><br/>They knocked again. <br/><br/>“Hello?” a soft, feminine voice called. “Is anyone there?”<br/><br/>Siyeon sniffed the air. A curious expression crossed her face but it wasn’t one of concern or warning. On her okay, Minji opened the door to find blue eyes staring at her. White triangular ears tipped in black swiveled on top of a head of blonde hair. Two bushy tails that matched the same color patterns of their ears twitched behind her. <br/><br/>She was a long way from her borrow where the two-tailed foxes lived. Knowing what she was explained her ability to get past the wards. The foxes were cunning, sneaky, mysterious. They had the ability to become shadows—to cloak—going where most could not go, slipping into places that most could not find, breaching barriers that most could not tear down. <br/><br/>“Hello,” Minji greeted.<br/><br/>The fox sucked in a breath of surprise. “You <em>are </em>the elf.” <br/><br/>Minji blinked. She felt Siyeon come up behind her, eyes flashing a warning. The fox took a step back, head dipping. “I am.”<br/><br/>“I need your help,” she said. “I heard from others that you have helped them.”<br/><br/>Minji narrowed her eyes. “What sort of help are you in need of?”<br/><br/>“May I come in? The story is long and I’ve run for days to reach you.”<br/><br/>Minji pulled the door open to allow her in, instructing Siyeon to bring water and some cool cuts of fruit to eat as she shifted into skins. She could tell the fox was winded and dry. <br/><br/>Minji sat in a chair while the fox took the couch. She was a curious thing as the foxes were. Her wide, lapis eyes flitted throughout the room, ears turning at the sounds Siyeon made in the kitchen and tails brushing against the cushion as she idly inspected. <br/><br/>“What is your story?” asked Minji, drawing the fox’s attention away from a bronze vase back to her. Foxes had a thing for snatching trinkets and treasures, hoarding them like trophies. They had much value for their possessions and took pride in the ones that they could garner from others. <br/><br/>“My name is Handong,” she told her. “Gahyeon, my leashmate, is missing. I’m worried that she’s been taken.”<br/><br/>“By who?” asked Siyeon as she reentered the room. <br/><br/>Handong accepted the cup and drank half the glass before taking up a slice of green fruit. She chewed for a moment while Siyeon refilled her cup with a metal pitcher she had brought on the tray with the other items. <br/><br/>“I suspect the pythons.”<br/><br/>Siyeon glanced at Minji who looked curiously back at her. “You couldn’t follow her scent?”<br/><br/>Handong’s ears flattened on her head. “I tried but it cuts off.”<br/><br/>“Cloaked,” Minji figured. A fox wasn’t detectable when they were in shadow form, an ability that they all possessed. It was as if they didn’t exist, hidden in a realm between much the same as the one most things existed but different. <br/><br/>Handong nodded. “It was the night before our coupling.”<br/><br/>Minji frowned. A foxes coupling was like a marriage to man. Like mating to a lycan. Like the bonding of elves. For the foxes, they were coupled not only by the physical but by magic. Where their shadows would no longer cast as one, but as two. A show that even if one is alone, they are not without the other. That even in darkness, they would always still be with their light. <br/><br/>A coupling night was a celebratory and beautiful night designed for those who are truly woven to share existence together.<br/><br/>Minji caught Siyeon’s eye who glanced her way. A tint of color washed over the lycan’s cheeks and Minji bit her smile before it could stretch. She knew what was going through Siyeon’s mind. Their own first night. A bonding and mating in one. <br/><br/>“If that’s so,” said Minji, “I don’t believe she ran away.”<br/><br/>“I know she didn’t. She wouldn’t.”<br/><br/>Minji nodded. She had already made up her mind. “We will help you find her,” she agreed, “but first I will need something of hers to do so.”<br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>The cold months give into a warmer season. It brings gentle rains and budding vegetation. The trees grow green and flowers peek out of the ground, blossoming their vibrant colors. Minji smiles as she leads Yoohyeon across the yards to the greenhouse behind the tree cottage.<br/><br/>“Keep them closed.”<br/><br/>“They are.” Yoohyeon laughs. “I promise.”<br/><br/>Minji looks back to make sure. Yoohyeon holds one hand over her eyes while the other threads in Minji’s fingers who steps through the greenhouse entrance and stops them in one of the rows. <br/><br/>“Okay.” She lets Yoohyeon go and steps back. “You can uncover them.”<br/><br/>Her hand drops away from her face and cat eyes open. Minji smiles as Yoohyeon’s face lights up at the sight. There isn’t much but there’s enough. Greens of plants and vegetables, reds and yellows and purples and oranges of fruits. Tiny trees bearing nuts and pots of dirt with their hidden treasures growing deep within. <br/><br/>Yoohyeon’s pupils widen in their excitement. “It’s beautiful.”<br/><br/>“It’s yours.”<br/><br/>She shakes her head, staring incredulously down at Minji. “I can’t accept that.”<br/><br/>“This is your home now.” Has been for two and a quarter months. “What’s mine is yours.”<br/><br/>“Thank you, Minji.” She turns fully to her. “For everything you’ve done for me. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to repay you.”<br/><br/>“Go. Look around.”<br/><br/>Pulling off, Yoohyeon walks along the rows. She smiles all the while she examines all she can, ghosting her fingers over the things that grow and touching the bits of dirt that she can get her fingers on no doubt reading the currents that run through them. <br/><br/>Minji watches as Yoohyeon eyes a small pot where the plant in it has begun to wilt, few leaves fallen off onto the wooden table. She takes up one of the discolored leaves in her fingers and brings it to her lips with a kiss. The yellow fades away leaving only green. Minji’s lips part in astonishment. <br/><br/>“Being gentry made you stronger than the others,” says Minji as she approaches her. The first fae to come into existence were the ones who sat the thrones. And as the first, they were pure in magic, a little more powerful than the ones after who made up the courts. <br/><br/>Yoohyeon ducks her head. “It’s why I was chosen to lead the Sage Knights. The Queen didn’t trust any other to be the head protector.”<br/><br/>“That’s why you responded to the dryads distress call.”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon nods. It’s surprising to Minji. A gentle warrior. A promising acolyte. A born ruler. There’s something in Yoohyeon that’s budding, growing, churning. Minji feels it in the smallest touch she gives to the faerie though she can’t quite understand what it means. What she knows is that there’s power there and it intrigues her.<br/><br/>“Do you want to learn everything I know?” Minji asks. She steps forward and cups her hands around the back of Yoohyeon’s, bringing them together over the leaf she still holds. Words mutter on her lips and she opens Yoohyeon’s hands finding a flower of a budding fruit blossomed in her palm where the leaf once was. Yoohyeon gasps. “I can teach you this and so much more.”<br/><br/>Green eyes meet hers, brimming with excitement. “Yes. Please! I want to know all that you know.”<br/><br/>“Maybe not all.” Minji chuckles. “At least not yet.”<br/><br/>Ruffling silver hair, Minji leaves Yoohyeon to enjoy her time in the greenhouse. The sun beams warm outside and she squints, finding Siyeon leaning on a tree at the edges of the yard. She doesn’t wait for Minji to reach her before she speaks. <br/><br/>“You’re fond of her.”<br/><br/>Minji searches Siyeon’s face. It isn’t accusatory. It’s just a question but there’s something else beneath it. And because Minji never lies to her she answers, “Yes.”<br/><br/>Siyeon pulls from the tree and begins into the woods. Minji follows. <br/><br/>“Siyeon, wait.”<br/><br/>“Don’t you think it’s unfair?” Her shirt pulls over her head and drops to the ground. “To live so many lives and have so many lovers?” Her trousers go next leaving her in only undergarments. “Is it not enough for one to belong to the ones you’ve promised?”<br/><br/>From the base of her spine spins a tail that fans out in black fur. She’s upset. Minji knows she only has a moment before Siyeon bursts fully into her pelt and runs off. She has always had a short temper though it has tamed over time. She feels deeply and emotes in the most exuberant of ways. <br/><br/>“Soon everything and everyone will belong to me.” Minji catches up just as her ears sprout, spinning Siyeon around by the tug of her wrist. “But none like you.”<br/><br/>Gold eyes fall onto hers. They burn in a way that reminds Minji of the Phoenix who held literal fire for eyes. It makes Minji’s stomach twist. She doesn’t like it when Siyeon is angry though she knows this anger is only a show of her hurt and uncertainty. A spark of jealousy. <br/><br/>“Is that why you worry?”<br/><br/>Siyeon juts her chin in the direction of the cottage they left far behind. “Who is she?”<br/><br/>“It isn’t written yet.” Or she would say. But she can’t fully see Yoohyeon beyond what each day presents or the small glimpses she has seen. <br/><br/>“But what was before her was. And when <em>she’s</em> released—”<br/><br/>“—we can all finally be together.” Minji cuts her off. “It has been a thousand lifetimes. Why would I make it any different? Why would I suddenly change that now?”<br/><br/>Siyeon bites into her bottom lip, fangs scratching the skin. <br/><br/>“You’re looking pale.” Minji strokes her forehead with the back of her fingers feeling her heat. “You get like this when the full moon is—”<br/><br/>“It’s not the full moon.” Siyeon waves her hands away. Minji quirks an eyebrow. “It’s not <em>only</em> the full moon,” Siyeon mumbles in embarrassment. <br/><br/>Minji smiles softly and strings her arms around Siyeon’s waist, pulling her closer. “What is it? I can feel your heart racing.”<br/><br/>“Something— it’s different this time, Minji. Something is changing.”<br/><br/>“Everything is changing.”<br/><br/>“I don’t want us to change.”<br/><br/>Lavender flits back and forth between gold. “We won’t.” She leans her forehead against Siyeon’s, voice soft. “This won’t. Despite the faerie.”<br/><br/>“How do you know if it’s not seen?”<br/><br/>“Because there is one thing that hasn’t and won’t change. And that is my heart and the love I have for you.” She bumps her nose against Siyeon’s. “For both of you.”<br/><br/>Minji kisses her soft and slow and sure. Red-orange like a sunburst flashes behind her lids. Gold follows, meeting with lavender. Each color swirls together and into one and Minji’s chest swells. A searing heat shoots through her entire body and she grits her teeth, forcing Siyeon back against the stiff bark of a tree. <br/><br/>The violent rush of air leaving the lycan’s lungs snaps her back to the present and her eyes shoot open. <br/><br/>“What did you see?”<br/><br/>Minji can’t tell exactly but she can feel it. Hot, hot, hot and passionate. Burning. It’s unlike she’s gotten before. The feelings with the images are new. It’s different. The expansion of her powers ripples below the surface of her skin and she has to fight to hold it down. To rein herself back. She feels as wild as Siyeon does on a full moon when her pelt is forced out of her. <br/><br/>“Us,” Minji says. <br/><br/>And she takes Siyeon down into the bed of the thicket, releasing every ounce of the power she can’t keep in. <br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/><em>“Who is she?”</em><br/><br/>It wasn’t the first time Siyeon had asked her those words. About someone very different. <br/><br/>“Who is she?”<br/><br/>Minji opened her eyes. The sun hit her full on and she squinted up from where she sat in the garden to Siyeon towering above her. Flower petals and leaves and blades of grass swirled around Minji where she held them suspended in air, hands up creating a diamond with index fingers crisscrossing. The odd look on Siyeon’s face broke her concentration, severing the flow of energy she was pulling from the wind. Everything dropped. <br/><br/>“Who?”<br/><br/>Siyeon shifted her weight. Nervous. Minji examined her closely. She had been rather off the entire day though it wasn’t the first time Minji had noticed it. It had just finally risen to the surface, no longer veiled. <br/><br/>Minji lowered her hands, brow furrowing. “Who is who, Siyeon?”<br/><br/>She licked her lips, stalling for another second. “The one you murmur about in your sleep.” Minji went rigid. Siyeon’s eyebrow quirked upward, noting her uncharacteristic response. “What aren’t you telling me?”<br/><br/>“Nothing that I wasn’t already going to.”<br/><br/>She patted the space on the ground in front of her, beckoning Siyeon to sit. Her legs crossed as she sank onto the grass, hands held in her lap. She reminded Minji of the adolescent wolf she met many years ago—hundreds of lifetimes ago. She was feisty but she was timid, the latter something that never went away though with Minji she was fully open. Siyeon was different from the other lycan’s she had met in that way. A little too quiet. A little too intense. A little too independent. <br/><br/>“Minji,” she pressed, tone impatient. <br/><br/>Minji took in a breath. She had held off on telling this story of her past to Siyeon. She wanted to wait for when the time was right. If time would ever be right. No time had ever seemed to be right. But this time she felt like she was starting to figure out how to make that which she held and wanted possible and not just a dream that forced her through each lifetime after lifetime. <br/><br/>“Her name was Bora,” she finally said. Her throat tightened. She swallowed against the lump. She hadn’t spoken that name in nearly a hundred years. “She died long ago.” <br/><br/>Though died was a simple word for what happened to her. Death to a valkyrie was nothing. To be stripped of your wings and tossed into the Pits of the Lost, where valkyrie who broke the laws and betrayed their service were sent, was another thing entirely. <br/><br/>All because she dared to love. <br/><br/><em>"I knew what I was doing when I relented to you. I knew the risk.” </em>Bora said to her once. Or twice. Or many times each in response to the guilt Minji poured out when the day came and she was torn from her. <br/><br/>The pain of it sprang up in Minji, knotting in her gut. There were few things that grew easier to handle as her life repeated. There were some things that did not. Losing her friends, losing the folk, losing Bora, losing Siyeon. They never would be easy and the aches of them, even if she changed the fates, would always be with her because she had witnessed them too many times for them not to be permanently embedded into her mind that held all. <br/><br/>“Can I see her?”<br/><br/>Minji frowned. Her palms itched with sweat. She was the one who had grown nervous. But it was time, she knew, to let Siyeon know. But—<br/><br/>“Siyeon...”<br/><br/>“I want to see her. Please.”<br/><br/>Nodding, Minji brought her hands to Siyeon’s head, two fingers against her temples and thumbs pressed to the sharp bow of her cheekbones. Warm, golden eyes looked up into hers and she wavered. <br/><br/>“Are you sure?” she asked, more to prepare herself to reveal an intimate past she had never shared with anyone else. <br/><br/>Siyeon’s voice was barely above a whisper. “Yes.”<br/><br/>Closing her eyes, Minji released the memories. From the battlefield, to the Valley Between, to the cottage, and to Bora’s end. <br/><br/>It was Siyeon who drew away, breaking the connection. Minji opened her eyes to find her face. Siyeon’s jaw was tight, her eyes hard. Minji couldn’t read her. Her expression was empty though Minji could tell it was because Siyeon was making it so. Her eyes were always telling and they were unsettled. <br/><br/>“I’m sorry you saw things you did not want to see.”<br/><br/>Getting up, Siyeon left, bones cracking before she made it to the edges of the woods where she disappeared from sight. <br/><br/>It was nightfall when she returned. She sat on the edge of the bed where Minji laid, naked and beautiful in her angst. Minji hadn’t been asleep and she stared at Siyeon’s back, heart pounding as she waited. <br/><br/>“You love her.”<br/><br/>Minji swallowed. There was no question in what she asked. She had seen it. She saw the valkyrie descend on them where Minji and Bora were in a meadow, surrounded by a field of flowers, lost in a world of their own. A forbidden romance, a secret love affair. She saw when the valkyrie took Bora to her knees, stretched her mighty wings out, and sliced them from her back with their gleaming, golden swords. She saw Minji pleading futilely on her knees, crying as Bora took every ounce of punishment with not a tear in sight but with strength and dignity as she did everything. <br/><br/>There was no need to question. And there was no need for Minji to say anything other than, <br/><br/>“Yes.”<br/><br/>“Is that why you want to change everything?” Siyeon finally looked at her. When she turned, Minji whimpered. Her eyes were red and her cheeks blotchy from crying. “Is that why you’re making yourself more powerful, turning yourself into a god? To bring <em>her </em>back? To be with her?”<br/><br/>Yes, but, “No! It’s so we can all be.” <br/><br/>“What does that mean?”<br/><br/>Minji paused. She thought. She could tell her but there was an easier way. A better way. One that spoke clearer than any words she could speak. “Do you want to meet her?”<br/><br/>“How?”<br/><br/>“You’ve done so before.” A moment in time Minji had kept locked away. Siyeon blinked in surprise. “You saw what the valkyrie did to her, but one time that didn’t happen.”<br/><br/>Minji helped her escape before the time she knew the valkyrie would find them in the meadow would come. She took Bora away, hiding her in a place no one would be able to find her, cloaked by glamours to ward off anyone who tried to come looking. <br/><br/>“I would portal to see her,” Minji admitted. “She stayed there even though I knew she was unhappy.” The corners of her mouth lifted despite the anguish that stirred in her chest. “Then you came.”<br/><br/>She knew what her heart would do the moment she saw Siyeon and it was no different even though Bora was still alive and well. Everything inside of her was pulled to the lycan. It was irresistible. Like magnets. A new love mixing with old. But her heart didn’t falter, it didn’t lessen for either. In a way, it only grew.<br/><br/>“You were unruly,” she went on. They both knew that tale. How Minji knew very well how sharp Siyeon’s teeth were from bites. How heavy her paws could swipe. How quickly she could go from quiet to snarling. <br/><br/>Bora noticed the bites and the scars, noticed the new light in Minji’s eye regardless of her small set of injuries. <br/><br/>“I told her I had taken in a lycan that I had known for many lifetimes, and even though I said it wasn’t safe, she came to the cottage to see you. She was curious. You were terrified of her at first.” Minji looked over, biting into her lower lip. “She helped me raise you.”<br/><br/>It was the only way Minji could describe it. Siyeon was no child, but she had been treated as more of an animal than a being. She had been sequestered from all love and care until Minji drew her from the water. She knew hardly of any other creatures other than her kind and vampyrs and the few others who placed bets on her strengths until she met Bora. Bora who fought back fierce when Minji came back gentle. Created a balance that hadn’t been there before. <br/><br/>And it was then that Minji thought that she would always make it so Bora was never punished by the valkyrie again. <br/><br/>“Let me see,” said Siyeon, taking hold of MInji’s hands to bring them to her head. She was as curious as Bora had been about seeing her. <br/><br/>So Minji showed her. All the way until the night the valkyrie eventually did find her, ripping Bora away from the place they laid with Siyeon cocooned between them. Minji watched as in another lifetime her wings were severed but this time she had to hold Siyeon back, arms wrapped around her burly, wolf neck to spare her from one of the golden blades that could easily strike her down. <br/><br/>“I never attempted to save her from her fate again.”<br/><br/>It hurt worse than the other times. So much worse than before. And so Minji believed there was no way that they could all three be at once. Until she decided that instead of allowing time to rule she would rule it herself. <br/><br/>She would change it herself. Everything. All of it. From the beginning to its middle to the very end. She would curb the suffering of the folk her kind were given watch over, she would halt man’s hand from crushing them, she would put time in its place and keep it from stealing the few joys she had that were constantly ripped from her. <br/><br/>She would no longer let what she was chosen for command her. She would command herself. <br/><br/>“How many times have you lived this life?”<br/><br/>“Five hundred and seventy-five.” Minji sniffled. “Forgive me for being selfish. For wanting to keep the few things I treasure.” She wiped at her face. “You’re right, it isn’t only about the folk. I do want my people to be free of this cycle but I also want to keep those that I love. I don’t want to have to keep doing this anymore.”<br/><br/>“And if it doesn’t work? What will you do then?”<br/><br/>There was only one answer for that. “Keep trying until it does.”<br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>Sun glints off the surface of smooth, round glass, bouncing back into Minji’s eyes. The bead she holds in her fingers is no bigger than a large marble, weighted and solid, clear as a droplet. <br/><br/>“That’s a fox fire.”<br/><br/>Minji turns to see Yoohyeon approaching her where she stands across the yard. She looks a lot happier now. There’s color back in her cheeks and the warm, sunlight makes her eyes glow like the perfect beam of the sun through a leaf. <br/><br/>Minji has checked her old wounds enough to know they’re finally healed. Beneath the fine, leathery husk of her back are the buds of new wings. Little bits of rose and violet and turquoise. They’ll sprout soon enough. When the air turns hot and the sun unrelenting. <br/><br/>“I’ve only ever seen one of those once,” Yoohyeon continues as she reaches her. “That fox must’ve been extremely thankful to give it to you.”<br/><br/>Minji tucks the bead back inside her collar where it sits against her chest held in a small pouch worn on a string around her neck. Every morning she puts it on like a ritual and takes it off at night, storing it beneath her pillow where she knows it will be safe. <br/><br/>“She was.” Minji offers a smile, looking up into cat eyes. There are hints of yellow gold in the swirls. A sign of healthiness. “Today, I’ll teach you wind casting.”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon blinks in surprise. They had spent many days and hours refining her use of earth magic. The innate abilities came easily to her, blossoming into well enough power that she could now make a rose bloom. Minji feels the ripples of power growing in her, how they expand and tease on the cusp of waves soon to be storms. <br/><br/>“Can you wield all of the elements?” asks Yoohyeon. <br/><br/>With a smirk, Minji snaps her fingers and stretches out her hand where a flame hovers over her palm. Closing her fingers around it, she points two back out at Yoohyeon and bends them at the knuckles. The faerie chokes as the air in her lungs rushes out of them. A flick of those same fingers throws it back in and Yoohyeon gasps, hand pressing to her chest. <br/><br/>Making a fist, Minji thrusts her hand upward. The grass beneath her goes brown as the water in its roots lifts from the ground. Beads dance along the air as she twiddles her fingers, letting the droplets form into a tiny stream that spirals around her hand and wrist and arm before she releases it all and lets it fall back to the earth. <br/><br/>Yoohyeon stares on in amazement, eyes washing over Minji in a new way. Like she has fully seen the extent of what the elf can do, teetering on the edge of what could be fear or fierce admiration. <br/><br/>“How do you know so much?”<br/><br/>“I have lived a long time and learned many things.” Crouching, Minji circles her hand over the dead patch of grass, muttering softly. Green returns and the blades stand upright. “Now you will, too.”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon’s eyes follow Minji as she stands back up. “I said I wanted to learn but I don’t think I ever could. Not all of that.”<br/><br/>“I didn’t think I could either,” Minji tells her. “It took me years to gain the knowledge I have. After the elves fell, I spent much of my time in isolation, right here in these woods. Few knew of me, fewer even now know of me. I learned from those I met, was given gifts and secrets and enchantments as thanks. But you won’t have to spend as much time as me.” Minji smiles, fondly tapping the underside of Yoohyeon’s chin with a knuckle. “Because I’ll show you just how to do it.”<br/><br/>“Even potion making?”<br/><br/>“I’ve ledgers full of those. You can read and practice as much as you’d like.” She ruffles Yoohyeon’s hair with a hand earning a genuine smile. “Now, concentrate.”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon’s brow pulls in and Minji laughs gently. <br/><br/>“Wind casting is the trickiest of all,” she begins. “It’s taking that which cannot be seen and being able to move it where you want. It is the most powerful. Wind makes the waves course, fires grow, pollinates the earth. It’s fussy but it can be wielded if you know and understand that it’s not to be controlled but to be appreciated. And once you become an ally with the wind—”<br/><br/>She touches her forefinger and middle finger to her belt in the place a scabbard would hang. A breathy whisper blows from her mouth and she snaps her arm outward as if drawing a blade but her blade was her fingers. She slices them through the air. A sharp breeze emits from the movement and strikes into the stocks of flowers, severing the buds from the top that fall gently against the grass. <br/><br/>“—it will obey where you tell it to go.”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon’s mouth parts in wonder. “How do I do that?”<br/><br/>“Just like you are intimate with the earth, you have to romance the wind.”<br/><br/>Minji takes Yoohyeon’s hands. Splitting her middle and ring fingers apart on each, she slots both hands together in the spaces between, fitting them like a puzzle. <br/><br/>“Elbows up.” She taps on each so her arms hold in a perfect line across her body. “Like that.” She gives an approving nod to Yoohyeon’s questioning expression. For a moment it takes Minji back to a time when she looked down into red-orange eyes, playful hands lingering on her in places as she was taught spells of old. She shakes them away but the warmth the memories bring lingers in her chest. <br/><br/>“Now what?”<br/><br/>“Close your eyes.” Minji chuckles. “Focus on the air around you.” She walks around her, examining her posture, her voice quiet and calm, accompanying the soft breeze that brushes past them. “The way it sounds, it tastes, it smells.” Her eyes drift away to find a golden pair watching from a branch high up looking more like a panther than a wolf. “The way it feels.”<br/><br/>“Okay.”<br/><br/>“No, no, no.” Minji stops behind her, whispering. “Don’t speak.” Her nose bumps against the side of Yoohyeon’s head as she reaches around her to lift her elbows that had begun to sag. “Let the wind speak to you.”<br/><br/>“How does it do that?”<br/><br/>“You’ll know. And once it does, answer it in the way that your tongue wants you to answer it.”<br/><br/>All goes quiet. Still. The branch above creaks as Siyeon leans onto it, watching closely. Minji holds her position, fingers barely touching where they sit beneath Yoohyeon’s arms. There’s a gentle current in the air, a small whisper of something stirring around them. She feels it draw nearer and the air around them begins to bend. <br/><br/>Yoohyeon’s lips part, words falling from her mouth in something forgiven and old. Ancient as nature is even before Minji was born. The air around them responds, whirling up in a gust of a breeze that ruffles their garments and sweeps through hair, tossing silver and violet strands across their faces.<br/><br/>Then it’s gone. <br/><br/>Minji beams. “That, Princess, is a kiss from the wind.” <br/><br/>Yoohyeon turns around, light lashes glittering as she blinked in her own amazement. “How did I…”<br/><br/>“You are more powerful than you think.” Hair tucks back into place behind her ear at the brush of Minji’s fingers. She feels the swarms in Yoohyeon again when skin touches skin and she draws in a deep breath, steadying her own power that reaches out for it. “You could be even more than possibly me.”<br/><br/>“I doubt it. You could rule the world with what you have.”<br/><br/>“You can feel my power?”<br/><br/>“I can. Like the currents of the earth.” Taking Minji’s hand from her face, Yoohyeon holds it in the curve of her own, palm facing up where she traces the lines with a finger. “It’s as if you’re a part of it, not just connected to it. Different from everything and everyone else.” Her brow furrows, eyes slowly making their way back up to Minj’s face. “It’s like you’re both as old and older than this earth. Like you could crush it right now if you wanted.”<br/><br/>Minji’s gaze is on Siyeon who perks up on the branch she’s perched, head tilting slightly as she listens. Lavender draws down from treetops to Yoohyeon before her. The faerie shudders when their eyes lock and goosebumps rise along her light skin. <br/><br/>“What if I said that I could?? Does that frighten you?” <br/><br/>“No,” and the way she says it makes Minji wholly believe her. It’s easy to. Because in Yoohyeon’s eyes is a desire for more just as Minji had a hunger for more. An aptitude for power but a soul that craves it not for destruction but for newness. For control not to suppress but control to give and gift. <br/><br/>“What would you do if you had this?”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon lets Minji’s hand go where it falls to her side. “What do you mean?”<br/><br/>“All of this.” Minji waves her hand in the air. “This power to have it. If you could rule it all, what would you change?”<br/><br/>She‘s quiet for a moment as she thinks. “I’d combine the courts.”<br/><br/>“Why?”<br/><br/>“I don’t think we were ever meant to be separated.”<br/><br/>MInji’s head tilts in intrigue. “How do you figure?”<br/><br/>“Water, earth, fire, the skies and wind, they don’t exist as separate but as one, aiding one another. They create everything that we need and live on. The fae only saw they were different when man made them feel as they were different.”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon was right. Much changed when tensions arose between man and the folk. Long before the war even started. <br/><br/>“Is that all you would do?”<br/><br/>Her mouth turns down at the corners. “I don’t know what else I could. I’m only one faerie.”<br/><br/>“You are more than that,” Minji counters. “Do you want to see what I see?”<br/><br/>She sees Yoohyeon’s confusion before she gets a nod. Minji places her fingers to her temples and her thumbs to her cheeks. She has done this many times but there’s something exhilarating about doing it with Yoohyeon. Almost as if she’s putting her hands onto herself. Almost as if Yoohyeon is a mirror. <br/><br/>She licks her lips and closes her eyes. “See.”<br/><br/>The image that comes is the one of the crown. This time it’s sharper. Refined. Yoohyeon stands in garments of royalty and a silver crown on her head. She’s smiling, warm, and proud. Strong and radiant. <br/><br/>Minji lets the vision fade and Yoohyeon stares. She looks back and forth between lavender. <br/><br/>“What was that?”<br/><br/>“Something to come.”<br/><br/>Everything clicks. <br/><br/>“You’re...you’re the Keeper!”<br/><br/>“I am.”<br/><br/>“No wonder you— how hadn’t I known?” Yoohyeon’s brow wrinkles, eyes wide as they look Minji up and down, taking her completely and fully. “I shouldn’t have seen— but if— how can that be?”<br/><br/>“I don’t know yet but I know you’re not just a faerie.”<br/><br/>“There was another presence there.”<br/><br/>Minji’s eyebrows lift. That’s a first. She’s never known someone who could see or detect something in her visions. It’s she who is the one that shudders in front of Yoohyeon this time. <br/><br/>“Hopefully we will find out who soon enough.” She pushes on a smile, eyes watching Siyeon as she crawls from the branch and away. “Now, let’s begin again. From the top.”<br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>Minji‘s eyes followed Handong as she lowered to sit in front of where the elf was inside a ring of rue and white chrysanthemum petals. Siyeon stepped around them, lighting the red, blue, green, and purple candles at the four directional points of the circle. <br/><br/>Between crossed legs was a water lily hair comb, its petals done in tiny gemstones held together with neatly woven metalworking. Handong had made it for Gahyeon, presenting it to her when she asked her to first be hers. It was a precious and beautiful piece. <br/><br/>“Are you sure this will work?” asked Handong. <br/><br/>“I won’t fail you. Take my hands.” Minji stretched out her hands, palms facing up. Hesitating, Handong curved her fingers over Minji’s. They were warm and clammy from nerves. Minji squeezed them gently. “With this shadow-cross spell, I’ll be able to find exactly where she is. Once we know, I can portal us there.”<br/><br/>“And if she’s…” Handong’s ears flattened, her blue eyes full of worry. “What if she isn’t cloaked?”<br/><br/>Minji's mouth turned downward. She knew what Handong was asking. What if Gahyeon was dead?<br/><br/>“Then we start from the beginning. Siyeon will help sniff her out and we’ll search until she is found.” Minji rested their hands on her knees. “Are you ready?” She waited for Handong to nod. “Whatever you do, do not let go.”<br/><br/>Closing her eyes, Minji spoke the words of the spell slowly and softly. The air around her began to buzz, fading away until all that around her was pulled back. She felt her inner self lift away and catch on the wind that blew her over trees and fields and ponds and into a dense surrounding darkness where she landed in a crouch. <br/><br/>Minji stood up straight. The shadow realm was different. The edges fuzzy and everything reversed. It was dark where it should’ve been light and Minji blinked against the deep velvet blue and gray hues where there should have been greens and browns. <br/><br/>She took a soundless step. As if she wasn’t touching the ground at all. The air was cool, opposite of what the scorching month's heat should’ve been. There was a sun above but it was muted, hanging in a dark, storm colored sky void of clouds. <br/><br/>“Hello?” she called out. Her voice echoed off the trees in whispers that sounded like they wouldn’t meet their end until her voice fell off the edges of the earth. <br/><br/>Taking another step, something pulsed in her palm. Looking down, she found the comb clutched in her hand. It was warm to the touch and grew hotter as she continued in the direction she was going, leading her toward the hidden fox. <br/><br/>The metal scorched its hottest before going cold and Minji stopped. She turned, surveying the area. She knew the place and it was no place for foxes. <br/><br/>“Gahyeon?” she whispered this time it sounded like a yell. She stilled for a moment, letting the reverberation of her voice fade out before calling out a little louder so it registered quietly. “I’m not here to harm you. Please, show yourself.”<br/><br/>“Who’s there?” a voice responded. <br/><br/>Minji spun around, facing the direction it had come from. “My name is Minji. Handong sent me to find you.”<br/><br/>“Handong?”<br/><br/>The fox peeked over the thick of a fallen log overgrown in moss and mushrooms with bright, brownish-orange eyes. Two orange and black ears stood up from her head of dark hair and her black tails ending in a brush of white swung behind her as she stepped from her hiding place. <br/><br/>“Where is she?” asked Gahyeon. <br/><br/>“With me. Safe. Can you tell me where you are?”<br/><br/>“In the Dark Labyrinth.”<br/><br/>Minji’s stomach dropped. “How did you get there?”<br/><br/>“I was out, searching the hidden meadows to make a bouquet,” Gahyeon explained. “It’s the only place Handong’s favorite blossom grows. On my way back, I was intercepted by a python. I tried to get away, but they chased me. I didn’t realize they were leading me toward their grounds until it was too late. I cloaked myself and hid, waiting to sneak away but they seem to never sleep.”<br/><br/>Minji nodded, eyeing their surroundings. They couldn’t see them but Minji could feel the presence of the serpents hidden in the trees, in burrows, in dark places read to slither out. “How many are there?”<br/><br/>“I don’t know. I’m surrounded.” Gahyeon frowned. “I don’t know how much longer I can remain cloaked.”<br/><br/>If it had been days, she was certainly close to her end, pushed to the brink of her powers, quickly approaching exhaustion. <br/><br/>“Stay hidden a little longer. Can you do that for me?” Minji smiled at Gahyeon’s nod. “We will be there soon.”<br/><br/>“It’s too dangerous. Not even the others have come.”<br/><br/>“That is why I will.”<br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>The villages stand differently. Months have passed since the plague she sent and the rebuilding of what was lost alters the landscape. There are dry places where they should be vast fields of crops, swells of rivers where water once did not touch, fences and gates where there was once the freedom to roam. <br/><br/>She can see the humans like ants, moving about the streets. It has been a long time since Minji stepped into the dwellings of man. She has no desire to do so though there will come a time where she is forced to live amongst them, her true identity cloaked behind a glamour. <br/><br/>Those are the stretches of years she doesn’t enjoy. The ones she does on her own. The ones where she sits in a skyrise window, visiting old memories of the world she once knew gone and dream of when she will be born again and she doesn’t have to feel trapped in a new time that romanticizes the old but would never know how to appreciate it if they knew there were still traces of it walking amongst them. <br/><br/>“Did it work?” <br/><br/>She doesn’t turn to look at Siyeon. She heard her approaching long before she came up on her. <br/><br/>“It’s still too soon to tell.” Too early in time to know. <br/><br/>The fruits of the Giving Trees would thrust man forward faster than even the teaching of the elves did. It was why Minji allowed them into the garden. It was why Minji bore the guilt of the things she did. The sooner man learned, grew too powerful and knowledgeable than they were wise, the sooner the earth would crumble beneath the weight. The sooner they would bring themselves to an end which brought everything else with it. <br/><br/>It was eight hundred lifetimes ago when Minji learned that ridding of man too soon did nothing. They had to be. The thunder had to come. She couldn’t consume the lightning herself and keep it from spawning these new creatures from the clay. She couldn’t build an army strong or powerful enough to push them back when wars broke out. She couldn’t bring fiery hail down from the skies and diminish their numbers. <br/><br/>There was nothing she could do but allow them to go on, letting the timelines play out as they must. Because without man, there was no battlefield or valkyrie or the sparing of her life or Siyeon or foxes.<br/><br/>But she can make it go faster. If only just a little. And though it will still be hundreds of years before wood and stone was replaced by chrome and concrete, she would be able to stand in preparation for the day time brought its wrath. She would be there, meeting it when it came. Ready. This time she would be ready. <br/><br/>And she would be the one to spin everything into existence. <br/><br/>“I don’t like it,” says Siyeon. Minji let her eyes drift to where she stands at her side. Her nose crunches up at the corners in distaste. “I know it must be done, but I don’t want to leave you alone. Not for that long.”<br/><br/>“If I could keep you with me through it all, I would.” But she can’t. <br/><br/>“Why not capture me then?” Siyeon turns to her, desperation in her expression. Minji’s heart aches and she reaches out to grab her hand, threading their fingers together. “You know when my time will end.”<br/><br/>Minji shakes her head. It is something she has already thought about. It’s something they have discussed. She can’t let the time come when Siyeon will be taken from her. “Not anymore. Not in this time. It’s safer this way. Before worse can happen.”<br/><br/>Worse than hunters discovering a wolf that is much too large and strange and different to be a normal wolf, out of place for the place that they lived. Siyeon’s passing is one Minji hates the most. One each lifetime that she cries about for days before it happens. It’s during a time when steam engines roar and wars against man and man take place. Concrete doesn’t serve as well as woods and the call of the moon is rough on a lycan who has lived more of her days as free than caged.<br/><br/>Minji’s jaw tightens as she remembers the night Siyeon goes, the full moon large and bright. She remembers when morning breaks and Siyeon isn’t there on the couch, slumped from a long night of running, naked and spent where Minji would scoop her up from and place her in the bath. She remembers the hours that pass. The days. She remembers casting the tracking spell that leads her to a patch of ground, blackened in blood that she knows belongs to her beloved. <br/><br/>She remembers the way her heart felt as if it was wrenched from her chest. She remembers it all and it makes her lip quiver.<br/><br/>“Come back,” Siyeon beckons to her from the present. She touches her face with her warm palm and Minji nuzzles against it, kissing at her wrist. “You won’t have to live that again,” she reminds her.<br/><br/>Minji knows but they are memories she cannot erase. “I don’t know what I’ll live this time. I don’t know what to expect.” Turning back to the villages, Minji sighs. “I’ve come here almost every day for the past few months, hoping to see something but every time my sight is blank.”<br/><br/>“Maybe there’s still something missing.”<br/><br/>It’s possible. As Minji changes things, so does what is to come. There’s no way for her to see what is in the works, what is still shifting. It’s why she wasn’t able to see Yoohyeon. She came between moments of change, before Minji was able to catch a glimpse. <br/><br/>It makes her uneasy. She has known what is for a thousand lifetimes. To be blind in one doesn’t sit in her well but she knows she must be patient. Must keep trying, watching, feeling. Must stay on her guard for any little disturbance that might alter her plan even more. <br/><br/>“Siyeon,” she speaks her name in a heavy sigh. A head falls onto her shoulder and Minji squeezes her hand tight. “I have to get this right.”<br/><br/>“You will.”<br/><br/>She rests her head on Siyeon’s. “I’m so tired.”<br/><br/>“I know.”<br/><br/>But soon...soon she’ll rest. <br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>The Dark Labyrinth was a gnarled chamber of forest. The canopies were too thick for the sun to reach, trees too dense for surrounding light to seep through. It was riddled with swamps and bogs, creatures that preferred everlasting darkness to light. The trolls once inhabited the place, keeping the more unruly parts from being overgrown. But the trolls were gone and the pythons took rule of the corridors. <br/><br/>Minji held a lantern in one hand, lit with a purple flame. She was alone, Siyeon left back at the cottage to look after Handong until her return. It was better that way. <br/><br/>Her boots crunched as she descended deeper into the thicket. The sounds of night echoed through the trees, loud and ominous. The labyrinth looked different than what was presented in the shadow realm where everything was in reverse. Everything was flipped the proper way. Colors wrong, bushes on the wrong side of the path, branches bending the opposite directions than she had seen before. Minji sought out what was familiar, letting the clues lead her to the spot Gahyeon had been hidden. <br/><br/>The log laid heavy on its side, rotting beneath the things that grew on it. Beetles crawled along the length while worms churned at the base, wiggling and rolling over one another. <br/><br/>“Gahyeon?” she whispered. “It’s me. I’ve come to take you home.”<br/><br/>“But I am home,” a voice returned her call, low and wispy. <br/><br/>Yellow eyes caught the light of her flame, causing them to burn ghoulish in the darkness as the python rose from behind the log. Its scales were glossy to the sight, running down its length in brown and tan and black patterns and its underbelly light and rigid. A forked tongue flicked out of its mouth, tasting the air. <br/><br/>“Why, hello,” the python spoke. Minji craned her neck back to meet its eyes that towered above. It stood tall, body as thick as a tree trunk and fangs like massive tusks. “What do we have here?”<br/><br/>Minji held her ground as the python slithered over the log, drawing closer to her where it began to circle, trapping her in a ring of its long, heavy body.<br/><br/>“Hmm,” the python regarded, head spirling back around to face Minji. “An ancient one.” Its tongue flicked again, lapping against the side of her face. “How delicious. Your bones will be a treat. So brittle. So fine.”<br/><br/>“Try,” Minji challenged, tilting her chin up. Just behind its head, she saw the eyes of another watching them. Waiting. “I’ll remove all of your bones and turn you inside out.”<br/><br/>The python chuckled in a hissing sound. Others echoed their taunting tone and Minji stiffened when she realized there were many more tucked into the shadows of the trees. “You are only one, elf, and we are many.”<br/><br/>They came out one after the other, each a little different but each with glowing yellow eyes. The earth crunched and groaned beneath them as they moved and their tongues made wet, lashing sounds as they darted out of their mouths. <br/><br/>“Then I’d hate to make you few,” said Minji. She turned her neck, addressing the others that circled like prowling wolves, ready to make their kill. “Stand down now and I won’t.”<br/><br/>“But we are hungry.” The python moved quickly, wrapping once more around Minji so that its scaly body brushed against her arms. “And food is scarce.”<br/><br/>“Why is that so?”<br/><br/>“The clay ones hunt our grounds and take more than what their mouths can even eat.” Its voice dipped, dark and menacing. “We are hungry.”<br/><br/>Minji’s jaw flexed. “So devour man and leave the folk alone.”<br/><br/>“We cannot. They fight with weapons that burn and cut. They hack our skins and wear them on their feet.”<br/><br/>Minji narrowed her eyes. “Move grounds.”<br/><br/>The other python hissed and cursed at her words, throwing them at her like lashes. <br/><br/>“We were here first!” The python gave a wicked hiss, the coils of its body around Minji constricting, trapping her in tight. “The labyrinth is our grounds. We were here first.” It lowered its head to bring yellow eyes to lavender. “And so we will take whatever crosses it.”<br/><br/>The python’s mouth opened and Minji tossed her lantern into its jaws, yelling a spell. The purple flame expanded, exploding in a ball of light that threw the snake back. It’s coils loosened and she climbed herself out, crawling over the thick of its body. <br/><br/>She tumbled to the ground and rolled, missing the strike of its tail. Another head appeared before her and struck downward. Tossing up a fist, the roots beneath Minji broke through the surface and pierced through the snake's neck, stopping it before its mouth could reach her. <br/><br/>“Get her!”<br/><br/>Scrambling to her feet, Minji began to run. She chanted as she went, calling on the earth—on the trees—stretching their branches and pulling more of their roots. They whined and popped as they grew, weaving wood into crisscrossing patterns that joined and speared down into earth creating bars like a prison that halted the python’s advance. More stretched above, extending into a cage that held them in. <br/><br/>Angry hisses spat at her and Minji turned, running from them with a flame in her palm to light the way. <br/><br/>“Gahyeon!” she called as she ran, heart pounding in her chest that stung with each panting breath. “Gahyeon, it’s safe now! Reveal yourself. We must—”<br/><br/>Orange eyes appeared on the path in front of her, hovering like fireflies before the rest of a body came into focus as if it was stepping from behind the veil of a curtain. Hands spiked with black nails caught Minji by the arms before she could trample her down. <br/><br/>“You’re here!” Gahyeon blinked, eyes frantically looking her over. She was a mess, dirty and exhausted. “It’s really you.”<br/><br/>“Yes, and Handong is waiting.” Minji snapped her neck around, peering in the distance where the sound of hisses chased after her. “We don’t have much time,” she said, whipping back around. “Stand back.”<br/><br/>Gahyeon let her go and Minji stepped aside. She waved her hands in the air, drawing four points as she quickly uttered an incantation. The portal opened like ripples on the surface of water and Minji stepped through, yanking Gahyeon with her into—<br/><br/>“Handong!”<br/><br/>Minji spun around just as the gateway shut to see Gahyeon fall into Handong’s arms. The white fox spun her around, smiling through the tears of relief that touched the corners of her eyes. <br/><br/>Minji smiled, panting through her exhaustion at the warm reunion. <br/><br/>“Are you alright?” asked Siyeon, coming up to her from across the yard where they portaled to. Her voice was calm but her face was a canvas of worry. <br/><br/>Minji looked down at herself, noting the snags in her clothes, the stains and dirt that Siyeon eyed. She nodded, tucking Siyeon’s hair behind her ear, smiling to ease her worry. “Everything is all better now.”<br/><br/>She let her gaze drift back to where the foxes were. Handong held Gahyeon’s face in her hands, thumbs clearing the dirty smudges off her cheeks. Her grin pulled wide across her face, blue eyes glimmering like sapphires in the sunlight. The tilt of a head brought Gahyeon’s lips to hers in a slow, loving kiss. Minji blinked away. <br/><br/>“We should give them a moment,” said Minji, leading back to the cottage with Siyeon.<br/><br/>“Minji?”<br/><br/>She stopped, turning back to the foxes who looked up at her. The hands they held between them broke apart as Handong stepped forward.<br/><br/>“Here.”<br/><br/>Handong opened her other hand where she held the round sphere of a bead. Minji accepted into her own, letting the cool glass roll to where it fit neatly in the center of her palm.<br/><br/>“A fox fire.” Minji blinked up at Handong in surprise. <br/><br/>All foxes had one. It was a magical item, capable of holding the essence of three, holding them much like the Valley Between did. But unlike the Valley, the fox fire granted the holder the ability to bring that person back at will, all memories intact and void of any harm. As if they were never gone nor never been hurt. It granted the holder the ability to give someone a second chance.<br/><br/>“But—” Minji shook her head. “I can’t take this from you.”<br/><br/>“That’s why I’m giving it.” She closed Minji’s hands around the bead. “I have the one I want to keep.” She glanced over at Gahyeon who returned her smile with a blush. I’ll go when she goes.”<br/><br/>Minji brought her fist to her chest. “Thank you.”<br/><br/>“And for you,” said Gahyeon to Siyeon who was taken aback by the address. <br/><br/>Lifting the necklace from around her neck, Gahyeon handed it to Siyeon. At the end was an arrowhead of obsidian. It was a powerful stone. Whoever was struck, no matter if they were mortal or immortal, would turn to smoke and fade away. Never to be seen again. It was old, dark, ancient magic. Lost with the dragons and witches and warlocks.<br/><br/>“You’ll never have to cower in front of your enemies again.” <br/><br/>Siyeon ducked down for Gahyeon to loop the arrowhead around her neck. It rested nearly against her chest, shimmery and pulsing with a hidden, dark power. <br/><br/>“We hope you both live a long life,” said Handong, looking between each of them. “Together.”<br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>Dusk falls but the heat doesn’t go with it. Minji steps through the trees, touching a hand to the bark as she whispers the warding spells under her breath. A new season is on the cusp of taking over. A foreboding hangs in the air like the storm clouds that roll in from the west waiting to release their torrent. <br/><br/>Minji looks up through the branches, turning to the stars. It’s a dark and cloudy night. She can smell the storm coming. She can feel danger building to strike soon. Her stomach twists in knots and her temples flare in a dull ache. There’s a vision sitting on the edges of her sight, just out of reach. She closes her eyes, willing it to rise to the surface when something cracks in the woods. <br/><br/>Bringing her chin down, Minji opens her eyes and turns over her shoulder. The sound was faint. Like a twig snapping. She angles her body the direction it came from as a rustle follows a little too loud to just be the wind. <br/><br/>There’s a light crunch of earth and the hairs on the back of Minji’s neck stand up. <br/><br/>She narrows her eyes. <br/><br/>A whistle cuts through the air. <br/><br/>Minji steps to the side, eyes following the length of an arrow that stabs into a tree behind her, the feathered end quivering on impact. <br/><br/>She looks back the direction it came and squints. It’s too dark to properly see but she catches the movement of a shadow deep in the trees, skillfully hidden from view if one didn’t know where to look. <br/><br/>A bowstrings snaps and another arrow flies. Minji calls on the wind, veering it away from where it was headed for her chest. The head sinks into the dirt and Minji has barely a second before one more comes. <br/><br/>She catches it fast in her palm, examining the carving patterns of the piece, noting the arrowhead and the type of wood used. Her eyebrows lift. It belongs to the ones who live in the villages a little more south than the ones just beyond the woods. <br/><br/>She’s never known them to come this deep into the woods. Not this far across the land. There’s a forest closer to them, northward and smaller than the woods Minji lives. Strange, she thinks. They must’ve traveled days to reach here. <br/><br/>Minji lowers, hand against the dirt. She can feel the vibrations, each hum a different timbre for each living thing. She sifts through them until she finds the one of the stranger and locks onto the quick pad of footsteps. They draw closer and closer and—<br/><br/>A figure beeches the trees. Minji’s neck snaps up, meeting the face of a girl younger than she is old. She wears hunting gear with dark paint streaked across her face like camouflage. She’s small but her dark, brown eyes are fierce. They fall on Minji in astonishment, struck by the unusual color of eyes and the horns standing from atop a head. <br/><br/>The girl draws in a breath of shock. “You’re—“<br/><br/>Minji rises, the movement startling the girl who steps back, knees bending as she takes a stance of defense. Her hunting knife catches a moonbeam as she unsheathes it, holding the tip toward Minji in a firm grip. <br/><br/>Minji stares. Her heart races. She doesn’t know why. She feels something ripple in her chest and her skin flares in goosebumps. It has been many, many years since she has laid eyes on a human girl this near. None that she can remember that has made her feel quite like this. The ache in her temples grows, the knots in her stomach tighten. <br/><br/>“Who are you?” Minji demands. The edges of her vision start to feather. <br/><br/>“Don’t move!” the girl hisses. “I know what you are. Demon.”<br/><br/>“I’m no more a demon than what we all are.” She lifts her hands, bearing her palms in surrender. “Tell me who you are.”<br/><br/>“I said, don’t move! Don’t come any closer.” The knife lifts, aimed at the elf’s heart. <br/><br/>Minji holds in the step she just took. She takes the girl fully in again. “You’re a long way from home. Are you lost?”<br/><br/>“I'm not lost and I’m not afraid of you. I’ll hurt you.”<br/><br/>“You could try.” Minji grins. The girl’s eyes flash in panic before they narrow, reforming her mask of intimidation. “All I want to know is who you are.”<br/><br/>She takes another step. The girl reacts, surging forward with her blade. <br/><br/>A growl rips through the trees, bringing a streak of black out of the darkness. <br/><br/>Heavy paws land on the girl’s shoulders, taking her down into the brush. Jaws open, poised to kill and lower. Teeth spike around a throat and—<br/><br/>It hits Minji like lightning. Searing. Explosive. Hot. Fast. A rapid succession of images that burst clearly across her eyes. The fire, the deaths, the destruction, the end. Then a new beginning. <br/><br/>She sees the silver crown on Yoohyeon’s head, one that matches the gold one atop a head of short, black hair. She sees hands joined, pallid twined with tan. Sees the thrones, the towers of the castle they sit in, the expanse of the land, rich and green and plentiful, around it giving into towns and homes and bustling people of not just one kind of many kinds. <br/><br/>Then it changes and she sees the silhouette of a figure standing in front of a window, fingers running through black hair of another who sits on the windowsill, staring out at the stretch of earth toward the castle in the distance. <br/><br/>Minji sees her own hands curve around the waist of the standing figure, pressing a kiss to their neck and smiling, golden eyes that look up at her from the windowsill in fondness and affection and lifetimes of familiarity. <br/><br/>And then it all evaporates. It all disappears if Siyeon doesn’t—<br/><br/>“Stop!” Minji yells. “Siyeon, stop!”<br/><br/>She draws back just as her fangs draw first blood. <br/><br/>The human girl crawls backward, away from the danger of jaws and the horned beast that stands in front of her. <br/><br/>Her back hits against a tree where she freezes in place, panting in fear. A strand of her short black hair falls from where it’s combed back, streaking across a frightened face. A face that stared back at Minji in calm, serene, and wise power beside Yoohyeon in a time yet to come. A time unimaginable even for Minji. <br/><br/>Lavender meets dark brown and Minji shudders. Her skin tingles all over. Her stomach weightless and her chest pounding. <br/><br/>“You.”<br/><br/>Minji crouches in front of the girl who cowers further away. All of her defense and bravado have evaporated. She blinks her dark eyes in a mix of fear but intrigue. In wonder. <br/><br/>“It’s you,” Minji says and her voice shakes. She can’t believe it. A girl? A human? A product of man? She never saw it coming. Never dreamed that this would be the piece that was missing all along. She narrows her eyes. “I think it wise of you now to tell me your name.”<br/><br/>The girl quakes where she lays. She swallows hard, glancing back at the wolf who hovers close by licking the taste of blood off her muzzle.<br/><br/>“Yubin,” she squeaks. <br/><br/>It’s fierce the surge that runs through Minji at the sound of it. <br/><br/>“You will come with me, Yubin,” she says. “There is a lot you must know and not much time to know it.”</p>
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<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Here ends our journey! Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read, shared your love and thoughts, and appreciation. I hope you enjoyed the ride. Until next time.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>“Please, don’t. Please, please, please—”</em><br/><br/>Wings spread wide. <br/><br/><em>“—No!”</em><br/><br/>Gold glinted as light caught the edge of a sword. <br/><br/><em>“Bora!”</em><br/><br/>“Minji?”<br/><br/>Something touched her shoulders. She jerked away. <br/><br/>“Minji!” <br/><br/>Hands cupped around her face. <br/><br/>“Minji, wake up. Wake up!”<br/><br/>White film pulled away from her eyes. Red-orange stared back at her from a frame of blonde hair, worry riddled across a face. A face Minji had just seen in her dreams that weren’t really dreams at all. Just a play of a distant fate. An event in time. <br/><br/>Minji reached up, touching the hands that were against her cheeks. They were solid. Firm. Warm. Minji blinked until the wisps of a past and a future completely washed away. She stroked a thumb against the back of Bora’s hand, letting her touch root her into the present. <br/><br/>“How many full moons since we’ve met?” she asked. <br/><br/>Bora’s brow wrinkled in question. “Six.”<br/><br/>Minji relaxed but barely so. Six meant there were only three more left. Her chest ached. A whimper slipped out of her throat and she drew back, letting Bora’s hands fall away. Arms pulled around herself, holding back the emotions that swelled in her before it took control of her power and made the bed shake. <br/><br/>“What’s wrong?” asked Bora. <br/><br/>She looked back up into blinking eyes. Two hundred lifetimes spent together. Two hundred lifetimes that Minji had done it alone, holding the secrets to herself. <br/><br/>Minji got up, pacing to the window. Dawn was close. She could see the flakes of purple beginning to peek over the branches. Pressing her hands to the windowsill, Minji leaned over, letting a breath slowly past her lips. <br/><br/>“Minji, please.” The bed creaked behind her and footsteps drew near. She could feel the ghost of Bora’s hand that lifted to touch her but let it drop. “Speak to me.”<br/><br/>She gritted her teeth. The glass in the window spiderwebbed in cracks. <br/><br/>“Hey.” Bora turned her around with a tug of the shoulder and the two images of her here and alive against her there and being cut apart clashed so violently Minji almost couldn’t stand it. “Min—“<br/><br/>“I need a moment,” she said through her teeth. “Please. Just a moment.”<br/><br/>Bora stepped back. <br/><br/>Minji closed her eyes. She concentrated on the powers inside of her and willed them away, pushing them down deep where they couldn’t touch the energies on the outside and cause any more damage to be done. <br/><br/>The dream of Bora was harder to let go of but Minji swallowed it down. She tossed it back into the other memories, letting it slot into a place far enough away that her heart stopped racing. <br/><br/>“I’m alright now.” She opened her eyes, finding Bora sitting on the edge of the bed, hands folded neatly in her lap. She was naked as Minji was in only lower undergarments. She looked soft as clouds and warm as embers. <br/><br/>“Am I safe from being turned into stone now?” asked Bora. <br/><br/>Minji smiled softly. “As long as you’re nice.”<br/><br/>“Aren’t I always to you?” Bora stepped back up to her, hesitant in her approach. She let her hand rest on Minji’s cheek once again before letting it slide down behind her neck, thumb stroking the soft skin of her nape. Her head tilted, examining her closely. “What’s troubling you? This is the fifth night you’ve woken up screaming.”<br/><br/>Minji frowned. “Nothing to worry about.”<br/><br/>“From the day I breathed life back into you, you became something I worry about.” Her hand slid from Minji’s neck, between the bare plain of her chest and down to her hips. “Tell me.” She pulled the elf in closer, pressing skin to skin. “You’re frowning. You know how I hate it when you frown.”<br/><br/>“Your kisses are always quick to change that.” Minji smirked. Bora took the bait and kissed it off. The press of her mouth, her warmth, and the beats of her hearts against her chest were soothing. <br/><br/>Minji strung her arms around her shoulders, drawing her deeper. After a dream like that, kissing Bora was like a drink from a well. Replenishing. She allowed herself to drown in it. <br/><br/>The desire to erase the nightmare away with the present passion building was strong. The nips Bora gave to her lip before dipping to graze her teeth along the column of her neck were enticing. Her shoulders pressed back against the window frame and hands left her waist to soar up her front, blunt nails scratching at the run of her stomach causing her to shiver. <br/><br/>Minji remembered their first caresses and kisses. How Bora, a brave and confident valkyrie, had been timid in her touches. Now each one was like the lick of a flame. Eager. Full of wanting. Her affection was smoldering and young but strong. Purposeful and bold. <br/><br/>It was something Minji would never forget. Something Minji never wanted to forget. Bora was not something that could be easily forgotten and done with and it was the heaviness of that very thing that made her finally decide. To finally let Bora know. To see. <br/><br/>“Bora.”<br/><br/>“Hm?” The sharp point of her nose dragged up her sternum, topping off with a kiss at her collar. <br/><br/>“There is…” Minji sighed when lips sucked at her neck and hips pressed forward, trapping her harder against wood. The surge of it vibrated through Bora and her wings extended, knocking into dressers and walls. Minji smiled. “Careful, my sweet.”<br/><br/>Bora chuckled, wings settling against her back. She peered up, mouth pulled into a grin and eyes heavy with want. Minji bit into her lip, keeping her desire at bay. “Why are you holding back?”<br/><br/>“There is something I need to tell you.”<br/><br/>“What is it?”<br/><br/>“You’ll need to let me go first.”<br/><br/>Bora did so reluctantly, pulling away enough that Minji wasn’t tempted to sweep back in and claim her pretty mouth. She was alluringly irresistible. The sun to the moon she would meet in many years to come. <br/><br/>Bora wasn’t her first lover but she was the first of the truest form. Minji thought maybe that was why she could never let her go, never grieve enough for her. Maybe that was why she so fiercely began to reject the cycle, the loop. <br/><br/>Because though she knew she would meet her companion of millennia, the one who would save her from loneliness, she could never remove the pieces of the one who had restored her life. Again and again and again. The one who pushed her to be strong. The one who taught her to be bold. The one who didn’t know love but taught Minji how to fiercely love nature’s creations. <br/><br/>“I want to tell you about my life,” said Minji. <br/><br/>“You’ve told me many things already.”<br/><br/>She had but, “not everything. Not what's been forbidden.”<br/><br/>“The future.” Bora’s eyes narrowed. <br/><br/>“And the past, the present. Every lifetime I’ve had...with you.”<br/><br/>Bora's eyebrows lifted. <br/><br/>“Only if you want to know.”<br/><br/>“If it explains why you cry out my name in your sleep, then tell me.”<br/><br/>Minji winced. She led them back to the bed where they sat on the edge. Taking Bora’s hands, she held them in her lap and whispered a spell so that the candles lit up, casting portions of their faces in soft, yellow light. It made Bora’s eyes glow and she leaned in to kiss her one more time. <br/><br/>“This...gift of being the Keeper,” Minji began, “I have lived this life two hundred and eleven times, holding what I know to myself, letting what needs to happen happen, and knowing the way it plays out. I’ve done it alone my entire existence and I…” she turned to Bora. “I don’t want to do it alone anymore.”<br/><br/>“What do you mean?”<br/><br/>“It means that I longer care to hold these secrets alone,” she pressed, squeezing Bora’s hands. “It isn’t fair. And if I’m to keep doing this, shouldn’t I be able to choose what I want to do with what I know? What I have? Am I not allowed to ease this burden?”<br/><br/>“You are allowed to do anything you wish.”<br/><br/>The words meant something different coming from Bora. Bora the valkyrie who allowed herself to do what she wanted and not what was meant and expected of her. Minji’s stomach churned knowing it was her very defiance that would bring her to her end. Just as Minji’s defiance would hopefully bring a new end. <br/><br/>“I don’t want to put that burden onto you.”<br/><br/>“You’re not forcing it on me,” said Bora. “I’ll shoulder it with you.”<br/><br/>She bit her lip as she looked into eyes of fire. “Bora…”<br/><br/>“If there’s anyone who can handle this, it’s me.” One hand slipped from Minji’s to cup her face. A thumb stroked across her cheek and she leaned into the touch. “I have power over life and death. I have seen both the most beautiful things and the most gruesome. I’m not afraid. So, tell me.”<br/><br/>So, Minji placed her hands to Bora’s head and let her see. <br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>The cottage is quiet. Minji flips the latches of her kit up and opens the chest. She can feel eyes on her as she searches for the needed items. Tension hangs in the air. <br/><br/>She can’t remember the last time a human sat in her home. Their home. She catches sight of Siyeon who remains in her pelt, eyes on the girl who sits on a chair at their eating table. Yubin is stiff, hands in her lap where she keeps her stare, jaw tight and shoulders rigid. She’s a fragile thing. <br/><br/>“You can let me clean your wounds or you can,” says Minji, turning to face Yubin. <br/><br/>The skin around her neck flares with red. The punctures of teeth have stopped bleeding but they’re puffy and swollen. She’s lucky. Siyeon’s bites are a wicked thing and her jaws mightier than a hammer. <br/><br/>Yubin looks over to Siyeon who gives a low rumble in her chest. She swallows and blinks back to Minji, noting the cloth and ointment in her hands. Her eyes find hers. <br/><br/>“What are you?” asks Yubin <br/><br/>“Do they in your towns not know of the folk?”<br/><br/>“We know some of the creatures past our borders.” She juts her chin toward Siyeon. “Like the werewolf.” <br/><br/>“Lycan,” Minji corrects.<br/><br/>Yubin’s eyes narrow, glancing up at Minji’s horns. “I’ve never seen your kind before but I’ve heard stories.”<br/><br/>“Of demons?” Minji lifts her eyebrows in amusement. She has heard the stories. The way man twists and spins the tales of creatures they once knew in familiarity into monstrosities. <br/><br/>“You look of one.”<br/><br/>“Perhaps I am.” Minji grins. Yubin’s lips flatten into a line. “This demon is also the one who can halt the infection that bite is spreading through you. So, will you allow me to clean your wounds or not?”<br/><br/>Yubin shifts uneasy at her words. “I’ll allow it.”<br/><br/>Minji pulls another chair out and sits in front of Yubin who leans away against the backrest. Her eyes are sharp and attentive. They have to be if she’s a hunter. Leaning against the wall is her quiver of arrows and her longbow. It reminds Minji of where she’s from and she wonders why she’s come so far. <br/><br/>“I’m not going to become that, will I?” asks Yubin, glancing at Siyeon who’s eyes narrow. <br/><br/><em>“That i</em>s Siyeon and no. Lycans are born not created.” Minji picks up a small, glass bottle and twists out the cork. “Their bites are lethal to man, however.”<br/><br/>“What will happen to me?”<br/><br/>Minji offers a smile to calm her. “Nothing pleasant unless you do as I say. Drink this.”<br/><br/>“Poison?”<br/><br/>“Trust me, poison is the last way I would choose to take your life and it would serve none of us well if you are dead.” Minji’s insides clench when she remembers the way her visions disappeared when Siyeon had Yubin in her muzzle. She shakes it off. “It’s a medicine. Drink.”<br/><br/>Yubin is slow to take the bottle from her fingers. She examines it a moment before bringing the edge to her lips. Her face contorts in disgust as the orange serum touches her tongue and goes down. Minji hands her a stein of water afterward that she sniffs before sipping. <br/><br/>Once the cup is sat aside, Minji leans in further. Yubin gasps as fingers touch her chin and tilt her head so she can examine the wounds. <br/><br/>“I won’t have to sew these closed,” she says, ghosting a thumb over one of the bite marks. “I will have to bandage your neck. I apologize for the bite. Siyeon is rather protective.”<br/><br/>“Is she your pet?”<br/><br/>Siyeon snorts and Minji’s jaw flexes. “No.”<br/><br/>The glass top of a jar of ointment clinks as Minji lifts it off. She makes each of her movements apparent as she dips two fingers into the greenish-brown paste and smooths it over the cuts. Yubin is still as she does but her body is wound tight, breath unsteady with nervous tension. <br/><br/>With each touch, Minji hints at the girl's currents. Every living thing has them. Some stronger or warmer or faster than others. Yubin’s is gentle. She’s not very powerful if at all. She’s average like any other human is. It makes Minji curious. Makes her wonder how it is that this girl will become a ruler of a world beside a fae. <br/><br/>“You haven't said what you are.”<br/><br/>Minji looks into eyes that stare curiously back at her. They’re a deep, rich dark brown. There’s a gentle intensity in them. A low hum with the potential to smolder. “What I am doesn’t matter.”<br/><br/>“You’re no faerie,” Yubin goes on as Minji tends to the other side of her neck. “I’ve seen those, too. The villages across the river sell remedies made from their wings. At least that’s what they say. The townspeople eat spoonfuls but they’re still rather daft and penniless.”<br/><br/>Minji chuckles quietly. “That is because you’ve been deceived. A faeries magic isn’t in their wings, it’s in them. Wings make better trophies to mount on walls than good luck charms. The poachers know that.”<br/><br/>“I knew it,” Yubin grumbles to herself. <br/><br/>“What else have you seen?”<br/><br/>“There was this horse that lived in the river.” Yubin’s brow creases in thought. “I used to see it run along the banks at night when I was a child before I was scolded for not snuffing out the candle for bed.”<br/><br/>“A kelpie,” Minji tells her, looking up in astonishment. “Those are rare.” And seldom show themselves. Especially to humans.<br/><br/>“I haven't seen it since. I haven't seen any creatures in a long time.”<br/><br/>Minji’s brow furrows as she picks up a rag to clean off her hands. “You know a lot to have not seen.”<br/><br/>“I’ve read about them. The folk you call you?” Yubin glances at Minji who nods. She continues. “My great grandfather kept journals. He sketched the things he’d seen. Everyone thought him strange. The folk were terrors, not things to paint portraits of.”<br/><br/>It was strange. Much time had passed since the folk and the humans were anything but enemies. Minji knows there are still some of the clay who find interest in her kind but they were few and their interest and curiosity often turned to destruction. <br/><br/>“What happened to him?” Minji asks. She’s the curious one this time and she even sees Siyeon’s ears swivel as she listens. <br/><br/>“He passed. I kept his journals before they could be tossed.” Yubin winces as Minji wipes a damp cloth over her neck, cleaning the excess. “No one believes those tales anymore. They think them fanciful and the creatures in the woods as demons. They blame the famines on your kind, too.”<br/><br/>Minji pauses and sits back. Yubin’s head lifts from its tilt and she stares back at her. Waves stir up in her stomach and her chest flutters. Famines. It’s a sign. It’s the beginnings of the steps that will take them to where things need to be. <br/><br/>“Tell me about the famines,” says Minji. <br/><br/>“That’s why I came to these woods,” Yubin explains. “There were floods and then everything iced over. The villages across the river suffered the worst. My towns helped but we began to suffer, too. We couldn’t feed both them and us. All the other woods and forests have been hunted but not all of this one. They warned me it was too vast and gnarled to hunt but I had to try.” She catches sight of horns again before meeting lavender eyes. She looks less frightened now. Those spaces taken over by wonder. “I thought you were a deer. No other folk has horns like yours and a face like ours.”<br/><br/>“That is because I am the only one of my kind. Man made sure of that.”<br/><br/>Lips part in surprise before a brow furrows and Yubin looks away. Her gaze is back on the clasped hands in her lap when a voice calls out. <br/><br/>“Minji?”<br/><br/>She turns just in time to see Yoohyeon step around the corner, sleep still in her eyes, and wrinkles creased in her brow. <br/><br/>“There’s something I—”<br/><br/>She stops. Her eyes fall on the human and her pupils widen across green. There’s a sudden shift in the air that Minji feels in her gut. Her hands tighten around the bandages in her grasp and she hears Yubin suck in a breath. The human stares back at the faerie before her, dark eyes filling with interest as they look over her. <br/><br/>A crack of thunder sounds in the distance. The floorboards vibrate. The walls shiver. Siyeon looks to Minji but it isn’t her that’s causing it. <br/><br/>Minji casts her eyes to the faerie and she feels her heart slam against her ribs in time with Yoohyeon’s that syncs with Yubin’s. The connection locks into place and Minji grits her teeth as her bones vibrate. Across from her, Yubin’s breathing picks up, storming out of her nose.<br/><br/>Siyeon rises to her paws as the glass in the windows quake. It’s almost as if the entire earth has begun to shake, rumbling as it begins to shift into perfect alignment for—<br/><br/>“Yoohyeon.”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon gasps. The candles snuff out leaving wisps of smoke that billow into the air. Cat eyes cut to Minji that are bright even in the darkness. Everything stills. All goes quiet. <br/><br/>Yoohyeon’s lip quivers as she opens her mouth. “I…”<br/><br/>And then she’s gone, darting down the hall. The slam of the cottage door follows. <br/><br/>“After her,” Minji commands Siyeon, hands waving in the air to bring flames back to the lanterns and tea lights. “Give her space until she’s ready but keep an eye on where she goes.”<br/><br/>Dipping her head in a nod, Siyeon disappears. <br/><br/>“Who was that?”<br/><br/>Minji turns back to Yubin. She looks awestruck, a little terrified, and a lot shaken. The color in her face has drained and her chest rises and falls in heavy breaths. There’s something different about her in that moment. A change to her currents. A little stronger. Deeper. <br/><br/>“You will know soon enough.”<br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>“Show me again.”<br/><br/>“Bora—”<br/><br/>“Show me again, Minji.” Bora spun around on her from where she paced through the room. Hands grabbed wrists, bringing them back to her head. “Do it.”<br/><br/>“No. I won’t.”<br/><br/>Bora’s teeth bared as she clenched her jaw, holding back a surge of emotion that Minji felt echo through herself. She could feel Bora’s anguish. Her hurt. Her fear and confusion. Minji halted the onslaught before it could overcome her and tangle with her own conflicting emotions. <br/><br/>“I’m sorry,” Minji whispered. <br/><br/>“How long do I have?” Watery eyes looked at her from beneath a furrowed brow. The tears there wouldn’t be shed. Bora did not cry not ever and she wouldn’t now. <br/><br/>Minji licked her lips before she answered. “They find out about us in three months.”<br/><br/>Bora released her and paced away, drawing herself to the cracked window where she stood, arms pulled around herself. <br/><br/>“I’m—”<br/><br/>“No,” Bora cut her off. She sighed. “I asked for this. I asked you to show me. I won’t allow you to apologize.” She glanced back with a frown. “You have more guilt and pain in you than anyone else on this earth. I won’t give you reason for more.”<br/><br/>Silence passed. Minji waited for Bora to settle before she spoke again. “There is a way for things to be different.”<br/><br/>Eyebrows lifted in intrigue. “How?”<br/><br/>“It’s taken me a long time to figure out how I could do it but…” Minji wrung her wrists with nervous hands. “I’m going to change it.”<br/><br/>“Change it? Change time?”<br/><br/>“Yes.”<br/><br/>Bora turned fully to her with a laugh and Minji didn’t blame her. It was an insane idea. One unfathomable. “No one can do that. No one is powerful enough to do that.”<br/><br/>“Not yet.” Minji got up, closing the distance between them. A neck craned back to hold her eyes that lit with intensity. “I’m going to be. Every time I live another life, my power grows and every lifetime that has passed, I have tried to alter the way things go. I’ll keep doing it until I have everything right.”<br/><br/>“And then what?”<br/><br/>“You’ll be free to love whoever you want to love. If that is what you want.”<br/><br/>Bora’s eyes narrowed. “I do.”<br/><br/>“Then I’ll make it so.”<br/><br/>“And I want you.”<br/><br/>Minji stilled. “Bora…there is…” she sighed, hating the things she was about to say but she couldn’t keep them to herself. “I grieved for you for many years after but you were gone and I…there is another who comes.”<br/><br/>Bora scoffed. “Are you saying, Minji, the only being capable of holding an entire world in her heart, does not have love capable for more than one?”<br/><br/>Minji couldn’t meet her gaze. <br/><br/>“Tell me, Keeper, did you ever stop loving me, too?”<br/><br/>“No.”<br/><br/>Bora smirked. <br/><br/>“But Siyeon is in every lifetime. No matter what I do. No matter how I change it. She’s meant to be.”<br/><br/>“And you lose her, too. Don’t you? I won’t believe that you wouldn’t want to have her forever as well.”<br/><br/>Minji couldn't speak. Bora was right. She lost Siyeon many times. She lost Bora just as many. Both of her pillars. The ones who made her who she was. The valkyrie that taught her how to learn beyond herself and the lycan that showed her that care and love was more powerful than loneliness. <br/><br/>“Why do you want to change time?” asked Bora. <br/><br/>“The folk deserve better—”<br/><br/>“That isn’t what I asked.” Bora stepped to her, head ducking so Minji had no choice but to look at her. “I know why the elf wants to but why do <em>you.”</em><br/><br/>She crossed her arms, chewing on her bottom lip that shook as she found Bora’s eyes in the dim light. “I don’t want to lose anymore. I don’t want to be alone.”<br/><br/>“Me neither.”<br/><br/>“Bora,” she groaned because she could feel the way her heart splintered. The way it pulled for someone she had yet to meet in this lifetime and the valkyrie before her. <br/><br/>“If in your new earth we aren’t meant to be, then I won't force it to be.”<br/><br/>“I don’t know what isn’t written yet.”<br/><br/>“Time doesn’t have power over your heart, Minji. Only you do.” Her words hit the elf like the strike of a javelin. “If the world belongs to you, surely you can write whatever it is you want in it. So, what do you want?”<br/><br/>Panic fluttered in her chest. “I can’t...I don't want to go without either of you.”<br/><br/>“Fine.” Bora took one more step forward, neck craned back and face just a breath apart from Minji as she spoke. “But if that can’t be, this is the last time I want to know about it. About my end, about her. I don’t want to see it again. Not until you’re sure. Not until you’re certain.”<br/><br/>“Bora—”<br/><br/>She shook her head, cutting Minji off. “If I am to give up my life for you, then I don’t want to know that any other got to live with you like this—that another got to have your heart so freely and without consequence. I want to go with only my memories of you and no one else. But when the time comes when you have it all figured out and there can be a world where we can each exist…”<br/><br/>“I’ll reveal everything to you just like now.”<br/><br/>If that was how it had to be. Minji wouldn’t burden Bora with the secrets of her sight until the time was right. She wished she could see when that would be but there would be no way to. There was no telling how long it would take her to fit all the pieces of her plan so that it worked together or be powerful enough to enact it. And as much as she hated to have to keep going every lifetime alone, she would do it. For her. For Bora. For Siyeon and the rest. <br/><br/>“You’re really going to do it?” asked Bora. “Change time? Make it your own?”<br/><br/>It sounded unbelievable when echoed back to her. But she knew what she wanted to do. She knew what she was going to work toward. “Yes.”<br/><br/>Bora smiled and it was smug. “I’ve never known someone to be as selfish as they are selfless. I said you were like a mother but perhaps you are more like a god.”<br/><br/>“Do you disapprove?”<br/><br/>“No.” Bora drew her closer by a tug of the waist. “If things are as grim as what you have shown me, you’re exactly what this world needs.”<br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>Lightning flickers overhead, burning in golden eyes that step out from the trees. Black fur spirals back as bones crack and reform. Minji meets Siyeon halfway through the yard where she takes off her cape and throws it around the lycan’s shoulders. <br/><br/>“By the stream,” Siyeon tells her.<br/><br/>Nodding, Minji enters the thicket, faerielight in hand. Blue beams glow through her fingers as she follows the familiar path to the small stream that runs through the woods. She hears the trickling water and slows down, ducking beneath a low branch to reach the bank.<br/><br/>She finds Yoohyeon there, standing at the water's edge, hands held up creating the shape of a bird. Above her pressed thumbs is a tiny, green flame. It’s an impressive sight. Only days have passed since Minji went through fire magic with her. If there was any doubt about Yoohyeon’s role in the new future, it was all gone from her now. <br/><br/>Minji’s steps are light as she approaches slowly. The flame over Yoohyeon’s thumbs vanishes and her hands lower. <br/><br/>“What does it mean?” asks Yoohyeon, her voice soft against the air that’s charged by the storm. She turns to Minji with worried cat eyes. “Who is that girl?”<br/><br/>“Don’t you know?”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon’s eyes narrow, lips pursing. “No.”<br/><br/>“Yes, you do.”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon looks away. They both know it’s true. Minji felt it the same as Yoohyeon did when her eyes met Yubin’s in the cottage. The same shift. That same fluttering feeling that belonged to the mysterious presence in her visions before. <br/><br/>“I...I’m not sure.” Yoohyeon’s arms pull around herself as she looks up. “And I still don’t understand what it means.”<br/><br/>Minji nods as thunder cracks. She looks up to the clouds. “Come inside. I will explain everything.”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon wavers before she begins to move and Minji leads them back to the cottage. Yubin rises from where she sits on the couch, her shoulders rigid and her eyes drawn to the faerie that trails in Minji’s shadow. Yoohyeon’s gaze pulls to Yubin though she fights it as she rounds the couch and sits at the far end on Minji’s instruction. For once she looks small. <br/><br/>“Please, sit,” Minji tells Yubin. <br/><br/>She drops and leans back. Minji looks between them, marinating in the energy that echoes off the two and swirls into one creating a warmth she knows at least one of them can feel. <br/><br/>“Yubin, this is Yoohyeon,” says Minji. “A—”<br/><br/>“Faerie,” Yubin finishes for her, voice soft but astonished. Yoohyeon glances over at her, catches the all-encompassing way the human stares at her, and drops her gaze with a tint of a blush blooming on the tips of her pointed ears. <br/><br/>“What I am about to tell you,” Minji continues, “is something I even have not known before.”<br/><br/>“What do you mean?” asks Yubin. Her eyes shift up at the sound of footsteps to find Siyeon who scoots a chair forward allowing Minji to sit in it. <br/><br/>Minji thanks the lycan as she lowers and leans back, settling into the comfort of the hands that rest on either of her shoulders. “You wanted to know what I am. I’m an elf.”<br/><br/>“There’s no such thing.”<br/><br/>“But there is.” Minji gives a sad smile. “I’m the only one here now but that won’t always be. Those who weren’t slain until after the fall of the valkyrie will breathe again.”<br/><br/>“How?” It’s Yoohyeon who asks this time, interest canceling out her frustrations for the moment. <br/><br/>“Much has changed from the first time the earth was spun and I’ll show you just what I mean.” Minji looks to each of them. “What it means for both of you and why it is you feel what you’re feeling right now.”<br/><br/>Scooting to the edge of the chair, Minji stretches out her hands. Yoohyeon stiffens as fingers touch skin while Yubin gasps.<br/><br/>“What you are about to see,” Minji whispers. She’s never felt anything quite like she’s felt at this moment. “Is what is to come.”<br/><br/>The images lift out of her and slip into the minds of the ones before her. They’re more than she has seen in the past, conjured and shaped and formed by finally having the two. <br/><br/>Minji watches as newness unfolds behind the white film over her eyes. <br/><br/>A sea of beings fanned across the stretch of a room draped in gowns and suits, eyes of every shade, wings of various kinds, skin of colors of earth and beyond. They all turn to witness the joint display that descends a wide set of stairs—Yoohyeon in a gown of emerald, silver hair topped by a crown, and her wings stretched from her back gorgeous and glittering. In one hand she holds another that she smiles fondly over at. Yubin returns it, a golden crown on her head and sword clinking against her side as her boots tap the steps in a beautiful, regal suit. <br/><br/>The beings bow to them in loyalty and respect. In honor and love. Those same things transcend far beyond, out of the castle and across the lands that flow in riches of the new earth. Greens like they’ve never been seen before. Colors so new and vibrate, shimmering off petals of flowers. Blues of all depths glittering across seas and lakes and rivers and ponds. The sky glows with a merciful sun and the clouds soft and gentle and white. <br/><br/>And over it all, standing on the highest peak, is Minji. Her skin like diamonds. Like crystals. Her feet touch the ground like roots, sensing every vibration. Every sound. Every current. Every movement. Every living, breathing thing. It connects to her, woven into her very framework and she feels what this future Yoohyeon feels. <em>Happiness.</em> She feels what this future Yubin feels. <em>Hope. </em>She feels what the beings feel and what the earth wants. <em>Peace. </em><br/><br/>She feels everything and everyone. Every second that passes and has yet to pass stretching farther than she has ever seen. A continuation of time on and on and on all hinged on the one who began it. All on the elf who swore to become the mother of all. <br/><br/>Minji gasps. Letting go, she sits back. She’s breathless. Her skin burns and she leans her head back to find golden eyes watching her carefully. Siyeon touches her brow with the back of her fingers, wiping away the perspiration that lifted there. Grabbing her hand, Minji kisses her fingers, easing away the worry that was on Siyeon’s face. <br/><br/>“Was that real?” asks Yubin. Minji brings her chin back down to look at her. Her face is pale. Her eyes drift over to Yoohyeon beside her who doesn’t look up from where she’s staring into her lap. <br/><br/>Minji swallows to erase the dryness in her throat. “It is.”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon's neck snaps up then, jaw set and eyes hard. “How could it be?”<br/><br/>“It’s what's to come out of a new lifetime not created by time itself but me.”<br/><br/>“So you made this happen?”<br/><br/>Minji winces. Siyeon’s hands tighten on her shoulders and she tries to focus on the grounding grip rather than the disbelief in Yoohyeon’s eyes. “In a way, but I’ve never known either of your existence until tonight and a few months ago. It’s just what is.”<br/><br/>“It’s not.” The faerie bites back. “Not if I refuse.”<br/><br/>“Yoohyeon—”<br/><br/>“I won’t join with a human.” Yoohyeon shoots up to her feet. “Not after what they have done to the fae.”<br/><br/>Minji frowns. “If only you’d give it some thought—”<br/><br/>“No!” she hisses and the entire cottage shakes. Green eyes burn, boring into Minji who sits back in silence. “That is not my fate.”<br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>The cottage remains quiet. <br/><br/>Minji stands on the porch beneath the awning, staring out past branches as rain falls. She’s restless. The door behind her opens bringing Yubin who slinks the strap of her quiver over her head and carries her longbow. There’s a new weight on her shoulders from what Minji shared with her. Things after Yoohyeon locked herself away. Secrets of the folk. Of the past and present and future. <br/><br/>Minji turns to look at her. She’s young. There are years that stretch out before her. Ones filled with things she never dreamed. <br/><br/>“I’m sorry to have overwhelmed you.”<br/><br/>Yubin gives her an unreadable look. She’s quiet a long moment. <br/><br/>“I’ve never fit in where I was,” says Yubin. “Now I know why.”<br/><br/>It’s strange to hear from the lips of a human. A shared sentiment that Minji knows well. Of never truly having a place. It’s in moments like these she’s reminded that man isn’t too much different than the folk. <br/><br/>“I can understand if you reject it, too.”<br/><br/>“I don’t. I accept it.” Yubin’s brow furrows. “I think I can.” Her gaze drifts back to the cottage as if she can see through walls to the faerie that’s hidden behind them. It’s in the way Yubin does it that gives Minji hope. It’s the same way Siyeon looks at her. The same way Minji looked at Bora. It tells of something promising and Minji clings to it. <br/><br/>“Here.” Minji hands Yubin a small, wooden pan flute. “Play this and a portal to these woods will open to you.”<br/><br/>Yubin blinks in surprise as she takes the instrument. “I can come back?”<br/><br/>“If you are to lead the folk, then you must learn more about the folk.”<br/><br/>Yubin nods and slips the flute into a satchel that hangs on her hip. In it are seeds enchanted so that they will grow even in the toughest of grounds. It’s the least Minji can do. <br/><br/>“Tell no one of what you’ve seen or heard here,” says Minji. “Can you do that?”<br/><br/>“I won’t breathe a word.”<br/><br/>With a nod, Minji fans her hands through the air. A rip tears in the spaces her fingers drag giving to a portal that looks toward the villages Yubin is from. <br/><br/>“Be careful, young king.”<br/><br/>Yubin steps through. The space seals up behind her and Minji sighs. <br/><br/>Her steps are heavy as she makes her way back inside, weaving through halls where she wavers in front of Yoohyeon’s door. She raises a hand to knock but thinks against it. Time. She needs time. <br/><br/>“Minji,” Siyeon’s voice echoes through the halls. <br/><br/>She follows the call into the washroom. It smells of oils and soaps. Candles burn around the room, strewn around a basin of warm water that beckons her in with petals floating on the top.<br/><br/>Minji looks up from it to Siyeon who stands close by, a sheepish look about her face. It’s not the first time she’s done this sort of gesture but it always warms Minji’s heart. <br/><br/>“You didn’t have to.”<br/><br/>“I did.” Siyeon steps to her, fingers on ties and buttons that she undoes. Minji lets her work. Allows her to strip her of her garments until she is bare. <br/><br/>Hands hold Minji balanced as she steps into the water and lowers into the warm cocoon it creates. Her eyes close in pleasure as each nerve comes to life and she leans back, immediately soothed. <br/><br/>“Join me?” she beckons. <br/><br/>Siyeon obliges without thought, revealing the tan expanse of her skin. She steps into the water, slotting into the space behind Minji who cradles into the lycan’s front. Arms loop around her and she plays with the fingers that rest at her stomach.<br/><br/>A nose bumps the side of Minji’s neck and her head tilts allowing lips to trail her skin. Siyeon takes in a breath at her collar and lets it out. <br/><br/>“You’re scared,” says Siyeon. <br/><br/>It’s true. There’s no sense in denying it. Siyeon can smell it just as much as she can read it off of her. <br/><br/>“I’ve never been so terrified.” Of the unknown. Of this not working. Of having to go one more lifetime. <br/><br/>Minji knows she’ll do it again. She won’t rest until all is right but the prospect of being so close yet possibly not close enough turns her insides into knots. <br/><br/>Her eyes close and she sees Yoohyeon’s face. She sees her anguish and betrayal and hatred at the visions she was shown. She sees Yoohyeon crying over her mother’s lap. She sees the Phoenix disintegrate. She sees wings sever and a golden sword pierce. She sees battlefields and torches and spears. She sees death and blood and destruction. <br/><br/>She sees all that she has had a hand in, tweaking and forming and reshaping. The good she has done and the evils she has wrought. She sees the beautiful future that can come of it all but also the terrible things she has done to make sure that it is so. <br/><br/>And Minji wonders...she wonders if one day she will give up. If she will stop trying. Maybe after one thousand and one. Perhaps two thousand. Or three. She wonders if it is all for naught and that her suffering is not meant to ever be taken. <br/><br/>“Minji,” Siyeon speaks her name in sadness. <br/><br/>Minji grits her teeth, hands tightening in the ones that hold hers beneath the water. Eyes pinch shut as she wills away the sting at the corners of her eyes that threatens to bring tears. She just needs to hold on a little longer. <br/><br/>“I’m okay.”<br/><br/>Siyeon doesn’t believe her. Not fully. But she doesn’t pry. “What are we going to do?”<br/><br/>“Wait.” It’s all they can do. “There are still many sunrises before fire happens.”<br/><br/>“The fire you saw with Yoohyeon before?”<br/><br/>Minji nods and opens her eyes. She cranes her neck back and lifts a hand that drips droplets into the basin as she slides it behind Siyeon’s head and brings her down close enough to taste her breath. “These woods will soon be gone and that’s when I’ll use the fox fire.”<br/><br/>“And the vision?”<br/><br/>“Nothing has changed in my sight.” She lets their lips touch and shivers at the contact at the same time Siyeon draws in a breath. “The two are fated to be.”<br/><br/>“Like us?”<br/><br/>Minji smiles. “Like us.”<br/><br/>“I’m nervous to meet her again.” It’s rare that Siyeon speaks of the one missing between them but when she does, Minji sees and feels the swirls of her anticipation. <br/><br/>“Don’t worry.” Her smile widens to a grin and she fully draws Siyeon into a kiss. “Once she’s back, that means everything has been set right.”<br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>It takes three hundred more lifetimes before Minji begins to figure it out. Before she sees the pieces she must align so that all falls into place. <br/><br/>And it’s then that Minji sat Bora down, hidden under the overhang over the porch of the cottage. Wind cut through the branches, rustling the leaves around them. Minji’s heart raced in her chest as she let the memories leave her and enter Bora’s mind. <br/><br/>It had been so long since she had shown her. She was nervous but she didn’t shy away. She gave Bora everything because Bora would settle for nothing but it all. <br/><br/>Hands fell away and Bora lifted her chin to look into Minji’s eyes as they opened. This time, after all those lifetimes between, Bora didn't look at her in pain at what she was shown. She was calm. Reflective in the moments that ticked by afterward. Minji waited in the silence, allowing her time to take in all she’d been seen. <br/><br/>“She’s beautiful,” said Bora after a while. <br/><br/>Minji couldn’t help the smile that cracked on her lips. She knew who Bora meant. The lycan she hadn’t seen in this lifetime but had in one past. The lycan she was reminded that she was able to touch and see. There was a spark of joy to her this time and Minji warmed. <br/><br/>“She can be ours,” said Minji. “Again.”<br/><br/>Bora’s eyes widened a fraction. “You’ve figured it out.”<br/><br/>“Nearly.” But she was more confident then than she was the first time she showed Bora. Much had changed. Much shifted. “What I know is that you are not just my past but also my future. So is she. I’ll make it that way.”<br/><br/>And so Minji was able to show Bora again. After so many lifetimes of keeping these secrets to herself the way Bora asked her to, she was able to reveal them. <br/><br/>They washed over Bora differently this time. Minji watched as the array of timelines played behind eyes and slowly came together. It’s always an interesting sight to witness. She saw it on Siyeon each time she showed her. They both seemed to age once they were shown. Like knowledge had ripened them. Wisdom had matured them. The known eased them. <br/><br/>Or so Minji thought. <br/><br/>A curious look crossed Bora’s face as she stood up. Minji followed her with her eyes as she stepped to the edge of the porch, one hand hooked on a branch that extended down from the trees. <br/><br/>“It’s strange, Minji,” she said as she looked out across the yard and into the thicket that surrounded them. “Having feelings for someone I haven't even met but also have. They’re so strong.”<br/><br/>“You were never meant to love but once you allowed yourself to it’s become one of the strongest things you have.”<br/><br/>“You’re the strongest thing I have.”<br/><br/>Minji’s face colored. She didn’t know if she believed that. Not when there was someone like Bora in existence. She was strong. <br/><br/>“What about everyone else?” asked Bora, turning to her. The sunlight hitting her face made her skin look like it was made of amber. “You speak of having me and her again but what about the rest of the folk? How will you do it?”<br/><br/>Minji stilled. Her hands clasped in her lap where she still sat. Her stomach twisted at the answer she was about to give. Of all the things she had learned, all the things she would have to do in order to create the future that she wanted, this might be the hardest to handle. The hardest one to tell. To execute. Because it wasn’t something that she could do. It wasn’t her burden to hold be rather—<br/><br/>“You,” said Minji. <br/><br/>Bora blinked. “What?”<br/><br/>“You, Bora,” Minji repeated. “The only one that can do that is you.”<br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>Days pass and Yubin visits as much as she can, slipping from hunting parties, foregoing more hours of sleep to sneak away, turning trips for the market into trips to watch with wide eyes as Siyeon shifts in front of her. <br/><br/>She’s a curious creature. Always asking questions. Always wanting to know. Minji fills in where she can, let’s parchments and books and papers fill where she knows they can do better. Yubin reminds her of herself in a way. In how Minji sought out more and more and more knowledge on how to become more powerful. On how to be better as the Keeper. On how to hold an entire people. <br/><br/>The day is scorching. Yubin sits in the shade of a tree in the yard, back propped against the bark and head tilted into a book down to her undershirt and trousers. Siyeon takes her water and food and lets her be. <br/><br/>Floorboards creak. Minji leans out of the kitchen to find Yoohyeon at one of the windows. The slits in her shirt show the glistening of colors of her wings that sit just beneath the surface. They’re near ready to break free. <br/><br/>Fingers pull back curtains and sunlight beams into green eyes as Yoohyeon peers out, searching until they fall on what she’s curious about. It’s Yubin, no doubt. Minji has caught her doing it more than once, hidden behind corners, far across the room, deep in the greenhouse where she figured no one would know of her presence or how her attention drifted to the human who also sometimes spent time listening to tales Minji told her over a meal before sending her off before anyone could worry about her absence. <br/><br/>“Go to her,” says Minji. <br/><br/>Yoohyeon jumps at the voice. She spins around, face flushed from being caught in the act. She crosses her arms. It reminds Minji of a child but there’s also power in her stance. She looks like the knight she was in her court. She looks like a leader even in her gentleness. <br/><br/>And like Yubin, Yoohyeon reminds Minji of herself as well. Her kindest and her softness. Her innate ability to harness the powers of nature and find joy in it rather than means of how to weaponize it. <br/><br/>“I will not.”<br/><br/>“Why?” asks Minji. “Is it because she’s human? Is it because you’re scared?”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon scowls. “I’m not scared of her!”<br/><br/>“No, you’re not. You’re not scared of <em>her</em> exactly.” Minji tilts her head as she steps closer to where Yoohyeon is. Cat eyes watch her, steady against lavender. “You’re scared of what it means. What that stirring inside of you means because she is human.”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon’s jaw flexes. She doesn’t deny it. There’s no reason to. Minji can feel the currents the same as Yoohyeon. It’s so much easier now. Minji wonders if it’s because both of their abilities are beneath one roof, bounding and playing off one another. <br/><br/>“It doesn’t make sense,” says Yoohyeon. She sounds tired. As if she’s been thinking about this since the night Yubin came to them. “A folk and a human. Ruling. Why now? What’s the point?”<br/><br/>Minji steps to the window and peels back the curtain to look out. Yubin has moved to sprawl on her back, one hand bent behind her head and the other holding up a flower that shifts colors from every angle as she rotates it between her fingers. <br/><br/>“When I asked you what you would do if you had this power,” says Minji, “do you remember what you told me?”<br/><br/>“That I’d combine the courts.”<br/><br/>“Do you know what that told me?” Minji waits for Yoohyeon to shake her head before continuing. “It told me that you wanted peace. That you see beyond all differences. You see the importance of bringing what's separate together and the power that holds.”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon scoffs, brow wrinkled in frustration. “I spoke for the fae. Not a human.”<br/><br/>Minji hums. There’s heaviness and understanding in it. “I have lived one thousand lifetimes. I have loved, appreciated, hated, condemned, sympathized, and pitied the humans. I once even tried to get rid of them.”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon’s eyebrows lift as she gasps in a breath. <br/><br/>“It didn’t work.” Minji offers her a small smile. “There’s no way to erase them but we have the power to rewrite what we want. I can’t say that nothing bad will ever come again, but like not all folk are good, not all of man is bad. Yubin is one of the purest of her kind. Couldn’t you feel it?”<br/><br/>Minji turns to her. Yoohyeon looks away. But when she looks away, she looks out the window. It’s like her eyes can’t help it. They draw to the human where she sits. <br/><br/>“What you two are meant to be,” Minji says, voice quiet, “is something that has never been done but I have faith in it and what it will bring. I have spent the last seven hundred or so lifetimes finding a way to create the perfect earth. So in a way, you are both a symbol of perfection.”<br/><br/>“How can you be so sure?” Yoohyeon’s neck snaps to her. She doesn’t look as disgusted this time. She looks unsure. Nervous. It’s what sits under all her protest and aversion. This uncertainty. The unknown. Same as it has for Minji. <br/><br/>“I have to believe.” Because that’s all she had to hold onto. “There’s a reason she breached these woods and you were brought for me to find. There’s a reason why it is a fae, born of nature, and a human, risen from the earth, that is to lead next.”<br/><br/>“What if I can’t?” There it is. The fear revealed. <br/><br/>“At the end, when I reform the earth, my role as Keeper will end. I will no longer be the one to guide. I will be the earth and that is what I will protect.<br/>That leaves you.” Minji cups Yoohyeon’s face in her palm. She vibrates beneath her fingers like a buzzing bee. “You’ll have all of my memories and my power. You will teach Yubin how to speak to the wind and you will show the people what it is like to use for better and not worse.”<br/><br/>“What will you do? Where will you go?”<br/><br/>“I’m going to rest.” Minji smiles. “And as long as I live, so this earth will. Everything and everyone will belong to me but it’s you who will lead.”<br/><br/>“What if that’s not what I want?” she tries. <br/><br/>“But you do.”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon looks down. <br/><br/>Minji brings her face back up with two hands, ducking to meet her gaze. “Don’t be afraid of wanting to be powerful. It’s not about what you can do but what you do with it. You were a knight, after all.”<br/><br/>Yoohyeon’s smile pulls slowly and she nods. Hands taking Minji’s wrists, she pulls her away from her face and slides her fingers down to hold hands. “If that is so then I will trust you.”<br/><br/>“You don’t need to trust me. You have all of the knowledge already inside of you.” Minji squeezes her hands. “Now listen to it.”<br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>“You can’t ask me to do that.”<br/><br/>“Bora—” Minji raced after her into the cottage. <br/><br/>“This is insane, Minji!” Bora roared, whipping around on her. “You want me to slay the valkyrie. All of them!”<br/><br/>Minji winced. It sounded so much worse coming from Bora. It sounded so much worse being spoken and not just a thought. Not just a task. It was cruel and it was unfathomable. It was disgusting and yet Minji couldn’t find another way. She couldn’t think of anything else that could be done so that she could create her new end. <br/><br/>“Yes,” Minji croaked. Bora balked at her and she swallowed hard past the lump that had grown in her throat. “No one can leave the Between once they die. If this is to work, everyone has to be able to be reached. They have to be let out and only a valkyrie can do that.”<br/><br/>Bora’s brow furrowed. “But if I'm still here after they’re gone…” she trailed off, realization dawning on her. “I have to go, too.”<br/><br/>“I can do it for you.” She would, she could, make it painless. A passing in her sleep. There would be no need for her to suffer. Minji wouldn’t allow her to suffer. Not anymore than she would have to for the deed Minji was asking her to do. Not anymore than the heartache and guilt that Minji would harbor for eternity for all that she had to do. <br/><br/>“By the Tree, Minji, this is crazy.” <br/><br/>“Don’t you think I don’t know that? I have gone over six hundred lifetimes thinking of this. There are parts that I remember I have to do that keep me up at night. I hate it, Bora. I hate that this is what it’s come to—”<br/><br/>“What if you don’t try?” Bora reached out, taking Minji’s hands into hers. Red-orange bore up into lavender with pleading that reflected in her voice. “What if you just let everything be as it should be?”<br/><br/>“You’ve seen things as they should be. I know it breaks your hearts as well.”<br/><br/>Bora’s anger cracked, fading away slowly as she let Minji’s hands go and crossed the room away from her. Minji stayed where she stood, eyeing the valkyrie who moved to stand at the window. Dusk had settled and shadows shrouded parts of her face, black as the feathers that spilled down her back tipped with gold. <br/><br/>“I don’t like this,” Bora muttered. “I don’t like that maybe you’re right and I don’t like that I have to do these things.” She sighed, eyes closing as her teeth gritted. “But I hate what you have to do more.”<br/><br/>“But once it's done, it’s done,” said Minji. <br/><br/>Bora looked over her shoulder finding Minji who had come up behind her. Turning slowly, she tilted up her chin to look at her. “What about everything else?”<br/><br/>Minji shook her head. “There are still parts that I still don’t know.” She slipped her hand into Bora’s, threading their fingers together. “I’m not strong enough yet to take on the end. I still don’t know how I’ll be able to come back.”<br/><br/>“And what of Siyeon?”<br/><br/>Minji’s mouth kinked up into a smile. “I will one day meet a fox that will give me a gift that will ensure she won’t be lost.” She pulled on Bora’s hand, drawing her closer. “The rest, I still can’t see.”<br/><br/>“When will you?”<br/><br/>“I don’t know.”<br/><br/>Bora let out a breath. Head dropping, she let it land in Minji’s chest with arms stringing around her waist. Minji folded her arms around Bora’s shoulders, holding her close. <br/><br/>Silence fell on them. Minji allowed it. She had dropped so much onto Bora. More than she would anyone else. So she would give her all the time she needed to understand and to see. To decide if this was something that she would do with Minji. <br/><br/>The uncertainties that Bora harbored created gaps in Minji’s sight. She realized not that long ago that Bora played a larger role in her plan than she expected. There were things Bora didn’t say that shifted pieces. Things she decided, made new pathways. <br/><br/>This one decision was the largest one yet. <br/><br/>“You’ll need my sword,” said Bora after a time. Minji opened her eyes that had drifted shut to find the ones that she leaned back to see. “To open the realm beyond, you’ll need my sword and my true name that’s written on it. Otherwise, you won’t be able to draw me out.”<br/><br/>And if she couldn’t bring Bora back, she couldn’t bring anyone else back other than Siyeon. Because only a valkyrie had the power to draw someone from the Between. That wasn’t the life or the earth she wanted. Not the one she dreamed of. <br/><br/>“So, you’ll do it?” asked Minji. She had to make sure. She needed the confirmation. <br/><br/>“I will.”<br/><br/>Another piece locked into place. A hundred more lifetimes fluttered through Minji’s mind, parts in them shifting like puzzle pieces into new slots. The rush made her stomach wavy. <br/><br/>“Will you tell me your true name?” <br/><br/>All valkyrie had one. Given to them when they were birthed from the tree, etched into one of their hearts while the other held the name all else knew. It was the name that was spoken when they passed. It was only then that it could be revealed and even then only other valkyrie heard it. <br/><br/>A valkyrie’s true name was a powerful word. One that could overturn death. One so intimate, it was said that those who heard it could do nothing but cry at its beauty. <br/><br/>And Minji did cry. As Bora brought her lips to her ear and whispered it like a love confession, her insides burst and wells poured from her eyes. <br/><br/>Arms looped around her, pulling her into the warmth of a chest. <br/><br/>“Thank you,” Minji choked on a sob. “Thank you.” For trusting her, for believing in her, for wanting to do eons in the future unknown with her. <br/><br/>It was at that moment that Minji absolutely knew that she could not fail. <br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>Minji watches from afar. <br/><br/>There’s not much more to do. She has told the others everything. All that she can. <br/><br/>They know of the fire and the destruction it will bring, tearing through the woods that will take away their homes. It’s then that Minji will lift each one of them from existence and trap them away. It’s then that begins the millennia of waiting. <br/><br/>They know of a future to come. Of a new rule. Of how things will be somewhat how they were but different. Even so, there are still mysteries that Minji can’t see but this time they don’t make her nervous. They make her giddy. Excited to see what this new future will bring. What new possibilities will unfold. <br/><br/>They know of all the lives Minji has lived. Of all that she has done to make it so. They know of the sacrifice and battle. Know of the anguish and the guilt and the hurt. They know now and for the first time in a thousand lives, Minji doesn’t feel at all alone. <br/><br/>“They’re an interesting pair.”<br/><br/>Minji looks over at Siyeon who comes up on her side. <br/><br/>Out in the yard is Yoohyeon and Yubin. It’s amusing to watch. The way Yoohyeon tries to teach a being that has never known magic of the secrets that nature holds. Every moment they get, they spend time together. Sometimes early mornings even before Minji wakes and late into the night when Siyeon returns, shedding her pelt. <br/><br/>Each day that goes, they draw a little closer. Each day that goes, Yoohyeon grows more powerful, Yubin more knowledgeable, and each more confident. The question of if they could be rulers fades away to that they can and will be and they will stand like no others have before. <br/><br/>Yoohyeon is patient and Yubin is determined. Focused. She’s grown in wisdom in a way Minji didn’t think a human could posses. And she thinks that maybe this is why it took so long. Because she had to come to a point to see every single being on the earth as worthy to be saved and given another chance and not only the folk. <br/><br/>She was a mother to all with no exceptions. No exclusions. And that is what she figures truly makes for the perfection of the newness to come. <br/><br/>“They’re beautiful,” says Minji. <br/><br/>Fire sparks on Yoohyeon’s fingers and Yubin jumps back as it singes her hands. <br/><br/>Minji panics and rushes out onto the porch, ready to descend to help when Yoohyeon is quick to take Yubin’s hands into hers. <br/><br/>She cradles them in one palm, eyeing the reddening patches and waves the other over it. From the roots beneath their feet come droplets. They sprinkle over the skin, soothing away the burn. <br/><br/>“There,” says Yoohyeon. “Is that better?”<br/><br/>Yubin nods as she tilts her neck up, dark brown boring into green. “Yes.”<br/><br/>“I’m sorry, I was careless.” Yoohyeon bites her lip, eyes sad as she examines Yubin’s hand. She holds it with such carefulness and speaks to her in such fondness. Not but many weeks ago, Yoohyeon wanted nothing to do with her. <br/><br/>“You weren't,” says Yubin. “I’m just human.”<br/><br/>“No. No, you aren’t.” Yoohyeon’s brow furrows. “Not to me. Not anymore.”<br/><br/>And then Yoohyeon leans in and kisses her. <br/><br/>It’s a soft kiss. As gentle as the faerie is and timid as the human is. It’s soft but it reverberates. It creates waves and Minji sees a family born from them, new kingdoms established in their names, and new mixes of kinds that have never been witnessed before. <br/><br/>The surge of the visions echoes and Yoohyeon’s body responds to the new roll of power it brings. <br/><br/>The skin on her back begins to ripple. Wings begin to press against it, edges cutting through the husk that falls away. Blue and green and violet fan out and burst, stretching from her back in a double pair that catches the sunlight in an iridescent sheen. They’re stunning. <br/><br/>Yoohyeon lets them flutter and they glitter. Laughter fills up the air as she rejoices in the new sprouts, beating them quickly to rise off her toes and hover in the air before dropping back down. <br/><br/>She takes Yubin’s hands and spins around before kissing her again. <br/><br/>Minji smiles and ventures back inside just as the first chill of the cold months breaks through the trees. <br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>“Tell me again.”<br/><br/>Bora’s voice vibrated as she spoke. Minji pressed her face deeper against Bora’s chest, listening to the beat of her hearts. A hand stroked through her hair. <br/><br/>The moon was cool as it cut through treetops onto them where they laid amongst a sea of flowers. The meadow fanned around them, bursting in colors. The clear sky clear and darkness filled with the songs sung by the creatures of the night. <br/><br/>It was a space that Bora found. One where they could be alone. A secret hideaway away from the cottage that held just as many memories both beautiful and painful.<br/><br/>Tonight was painful. <br/><br/>Minji took in a breath. One thousand. That was how many lifetimes she had lived. For the last four hundred, she had pulled every string together to create the web of connections to finally form the perfect end for the perfect beginning. <br/><br/>“Tomorrow,” said Minji, “you will slay the valkyrie.”<br/><br/>It was a gruesome task. One she would never want to put onto anyone. But if there was someone who could shoulder burdens the way she did, it was Bora. And Bora would not fail her. <br/><br/>She felt Bora’s pulse spike beneath her ribs. It wasn’t new knowledge. It was something they had both accepted. Something that sat within each of them as nothing to be proud of but came to terms that it was necessary. Minji could now see the new end though parts were still hidden. But she could see and all that she saw she showed Bora. It was her sight alone that kept her moving forward, that gave Bora hope.<br/><br/>“Then you will slay me.”<br/><br/>Minji nodded. “That way no one can cross and be lost,” she explained and Bora hummed in agreement, the vibrations ticking the side of her face. “Their essence will be trapped in the Between. When it’s time, I’ll use your sword and release you.”<br/><br/>“How will I remember?”<br/><br/>“I’ll make it so you remember.” Just like she did for lifetimes past. <br/><br/>“And then?”<br/><br/>“Then everything will start over. I’ll bring Siyeon out of the fox fire and you’ll release the folk back onto the new earth and we’ll live the way we want to live. There won’t be a thunder and nothing will come out of the clay.”<br/><br/>“How will you survive the end?”<br/><br/>“The Phoenix.” She figured it out thirteen lifetimes ago. A Phoenix power combined with hers would make it so not even the crushing end of time would erase her. It wouldn’t be nature who rebirthed her but herself. <br/><br/>“You can only use the phoenix power once,” Bora noted. Minji lifted her head to look up into Bora’s face. “If you’re destroyed again...”<br/><br/>“That won’t happen,” she assured. I’ll live as long as the earth will. I’ll no longer be the Keeper but everything. I won’t be needed where I was before.”<br/><br/>Bora’s brow lifted. “Who will teach the folk in your place?”<br/><br/>“Someone else will.”<br/><br/>“Who?”<br/><br/>“I don’t know. At least not yet.”<br/><br/>But she knew there was someone just outside of her sight. There had to be. When their time was right to cross hers, they would. <br/><br/>“How many more lifetimes will it take?” asked Bora. <br/><br/>Minji let out a breath. It had already been so many. <br/><br/>“Hopefully, this will be the last,”<br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>Cold bites. Snow flurries. Wind howls through the cracks in the windows whispering ominous whispers.<br/><br/>Orange and yellow flicker behind Minji’s lids. Sparks fly, twinkling like fireflies that singe. They swarm, circling Minji, nipping at her skin that leaves glowing, yellow wounds that burn. Burn and burn and—<br/><br/>Minji shoots out of bed with a gasp. Sweat pools on her brow and chills down her back. There’s a rumble in the earth. A groaning. There are screams on the wind. <br/><br/>“Minji?” Siyeon looks at her with worried, golden eyes from where she lies in bed next to her. <br/><br/>Minji turns to her. She tastes the salt in her sweat as she licks her lips. The bottom one trembles. “It’s time.”<br/><br/>She gets out of bed and dresses quickly. <br/><br/>“What do you mean it’s—”<br/><br/>“Fire. They’re coming,” Minji presses. “Dress. Now. Get—”<br/><br/>“I’m here.” Yoohyeon bursts into the room. Green eyes find Minji. “I can feel them. They’re getting closer.”<br/><br/>Humans. A mob of them. Their steps vibrate through the earth like the cadence of a drum. Their voices soar on the wind in anger and hatred joined with fear. They’ve come to rid of the secrets in the woods that have plagued them. They’ve come to snuff out what they do not know in the name that they know more. <br/><br/>Siyeon growls as she buckles her belt. “What do we need?”<br/><br/>“Nothing.” Rushing back to the bed, Minji grabs the pouch from beneath her pillow. “Just this. Come with me.”<br/><br/>Minji leads them into the front where they stand. Any moment now. They just have to wait. <br/><br/>A hand falls on her shoulder. It’s Siyeon’s touch and it curbs some of her nerves but not by much. Today is a day she has been waiting for. One she has explained to each what will happen. What they must do. <br/><br/>The fox fire on her neck feels like it burns where it sits against her neck.<br/><br/>“What if she doesn’t come?” asks Siyeon. <br/><br/>Yoohyeon turns to her. “She will.”<br/><br/>She has to. <br/><br/>And she does. <br/><br/>The air goes dry and splits. Yubin falls from the space onto hands and knees. <br/><br/>“Yubin!” Yoohyeon rushes to her, helping her to stand upright. <br/><br/>She’s messy. Face smudged with dirt and clothes rumpled. <br/><br/>“What happened?” asks Yoohyeon. <br/><br/>“I tried to stop them.”<br/><br/>Minji frowns. “You know they won’t.”<br/><br/>“You said some won’t make it back. Some are going to die in the fire.”<br/><br/>“But they’ll be back,” says Yoohyeon. She turns to Minji. “They’ll be back.”<br/><br/>“They will.” Minji nods. “Now, each of you listen to me.”<br/><br/>She moves each one to stand in front of her. It’s almost surreal, Minji thinks. She can’t believe this day has come. Though she trembles inside, her voice is steady as she speaks. <br/><br/>“Each of you must speak the incantation. That is how you’ll enter the fox fire.”<br/><br/>“How long?” asks Yubin. <br/><br/>“Don’t worry. It’ll be like only a night has passed.” Much different than the years Minji will endure. Will wait. <br/><br/>She nearly wants to cry as she thinks about the time that will stretch between now and then. She nearly wants to cry as she thinks about what awaits after the end of them. <br/><br/>“Are you ready?” She waits for each one to nod before she takes the fox fire from its pouch. <br/><br/>Stepping to Yubin first, she stands in front of the human who begins to recite the incantation she taught her long ago. The words fall off her lips fluidly until she’s done and Minji touches the fox fire to her lips. <br/><br/>Wisps of smoke rise from the ground, spirling around legs and torso and arms. Up to her neck and around her head until nothing but black can be seen. And then it goes away, seeping into the surface of the fox fire that swirls blue one the inside. <br/><br/>“Now, Yoohyeon.”<br/><br/>She recites. The fox fire touches her lips and she is consumed in the same way, filling up the orb green to join blue. <br/><br/>“Si—” Lips cut her off. <br/><br/>Minji tenses, ready to pull away and tell her they don’t have time but she doesn’t. She remembers how long it will be until she can even touch the wolf again and she deepens the kiss, let’s it fill her up like a reservoir. <br/><br/>“I love you,” Siyeon breathes in a growl as she kisses her again, fierce and biting. “Please be safe.”<br/><br/>“Until we meet again, my love.”<br/><br/>Minji holds Siyeon’s hand while she recites. She holds it as she kisses the fox fire. And she holds it until she turns to golden smoke and joins the others. <br/><br/>Folding her hand around the orb, Minji holds it close to her chest with a whimper. She tries not to think of years. She thinks of it instead as soon. <br/><br/>Soon this will all be over. <br/><br/>Soon they will all be free. <br/><br/>The stench of smoke cuts through the air and Minji hurries. Placing the fox fire back into the pouch, she races into the bedroom and kneels before the chest that sits on the floor at the foot of the bed. Words spill off her lips and the lock pops open. Throwing up the top, she reaches in, curling her fingers around the cool metal of a scabbard. <br/><br/>The golden valkyrie sword lifts out, heavy and powerful. It radiates, pulsing in her hand. Minji secures it onto her back and with it, she leaves. <br/><br/>She cracks her hands against one another, tearing a hole in space that she walks through and out onto the edge of a cliff. It is from here she watches. Where she witnesses the first beginning of a new end. <br/><br/>Minji watches as the woods burn. <br/><br/>They burn and they burn. <br/><br/>Until black fills the sky and nature cries. <br/><br/>And then she disappears. <br/><br/>Into the shadows, shrouded from all eyes. Cloaked in a place no one nor nothing can touch. Can see. Can ever disturb. <br/><br/>It’s there that Minji waits. She lets the years drag on, lets time go by. She witnesses the complete fall of the folk and the rise of man. She witnesses wars and new eras. The rapid growth of new things that would’ve once been thought to be witchcraft. <br/><br/>Then all begins to erupt. All begins to fall apart. <br/><br/>Man ravages the land until it’s too broken and busted to work. Nature crumbles beneath the weight of it and the earth groans, crying out as it suffers. As it struggles to support what life is left until it has almost all been stripped away. Until it is only she who draws in breath. <br/><br/>That’s when Minji returns. <br/><br/>That is when she meets time at its very end. <br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>The ground crunches beneath her boots as she walks to the edges of a cliff and looks out with pale lavender eyes. The world is barren. Desolate. Quiet. <br/><br/>The winds whisper as they blow along nothing like a sigh. Like the last breaths given before death takes its toll. <br/><br/>Craning her neck back, Minji looks to the sky. The clouds above are dark and gray, the sky beyond it unseeable. A flicker of lightning shoots through the expanse and she feels the cosmic energies out in the great, wide unknown stir. It will happen soon. The very end. Time is ripe but Minji has beat it before it could be plucked and bitten into, tearing the framework of everything apart to be burst into existence again. <br/><br/>The fox fire on her neck seems to pulse and she wraps her hand around it. <br/><br/>“Soon,” she whispers. Not until it is finished. <br/><br/>Stepping away from the edge, she reaches back, fingers wrapping around the hilt of the sword on her back. It sings as it pulls from the sheath and she holds it up, reflection staring back at her in the long stretch of gold. <br/><br/>The words on the blade engraved near the hilt glint up at her. It is the one language Minji never knew. She wasn’t allowed to know for it belonged to the valkyrie but this one she knows. This one she has held like a prayer in her heart. <br/><br/>Raising her arm, Minji holds the point of the sword toward the heavens. She takes a breath, heart hammering in her chest as she shouts, <br/><br/><em>“Sua!”</em><br/><br/>She slices the air with the sword, opening a tear like a scar. Red-orange light spills from the fissure and Minji reaches in. Something takes hold of her forearm and Minji pulls, drawing it out of the brightness. <br/><br/>The tear closes with a snap and Minji steps back to look upon the being that she drew from it. The valkyrie that has not walked this earth in thousands of years. <br/><br/>Sunburst eyes stare back at her. Blonde hair falls long down naked shoulders, ends covering the blooms of color at the tips of her breasts. Wings unfurl, large, black, and gold, stretching wide and beautiful. Just as beautiful as the one they’re attached to. <br/><br/>Wings fold neatly and a brow furrows as eyes look Minji up and down before meeting her gaze. It’s as fierce as it was in the beginning. When Minji first looked into them. And still to this day Minji doesn’t think that she has ever seen anything as fiery as Bora’s eyes. <br/><br/>“Who has spoken my true name and pulled me from the Between?” <br/><br/>Minji’s jaw tightens. Bora’s voice is both like the crash of waves and the sweet chorus of songbirds at dawn. Her hands prickle in want to reach for her. Her heart squeezes, stomach fluttering in a way that only Bora made it do. It’s such an overwhelming feeling looking and hearing Bora after so long. <br/><br/>She draws in a steadying breath and tilts her chin up to speak. “It is I, Minji of Elves, Keeper of Time.”<br/><br/>Bora looks around, surveying the nothingness around them. “Is this the end?”<br/><br/>“Yes and no.”<br/><br/>“Explain, Keeper.”<br/><br/>“As you wish.” Minji steps to her and places her hands to her head. <br/><br/>Bora steps back. “It is forbidden.”<br/><br/>“That isn’t that first time you’ve told me that.” Minji steps back to her, a gentle smile on her lips. “Can’t you feel it? The pull inside of you? It’s time, Bora.”<br/><br/>The valkyrie blinks in surprise. “How do you know?”<br/><br/>“Because—”<br/><br/>She places her hands to Bora’s head and releases it all. Everything. From start to finish. From lifetime to lifetime. She gives it to Bora and Bora sees all that she has seen and known. <br/><br/>Releasing her, Bora stumbles back, falling to her knees where she pants with her hands clenching in the dirt. Minji waits for moments to pass until Bora looks up. <br/><br/>“—I have always known and never forgotten you.”<br/><br/>Bora blinks. Her lip quivers. “Minji,” she speaks her name and Minji runs to her. <br/><br/>Arms open as Bora stands and accepts her in. Lips meld together and Minji sighs into the mouth that accepts her with a familiarity never forgotten. Wings fold around her back, crushing her closer and Minji imagines them fusing together. Of Bora becoming her blood the way Siyeon is her bones and marrow. <br/><br/>“You’ve done it,” Bora pants and kisses her again, leaving her no space or chance to talk until they’re both breathless and they break apart. <br/><br/>“Almost.” Minji giggles against her mouth. Bora’s hearts are like hammers against Minji and she can’t wait to fall asleep with her head pressed to her chest for eternity knowing she will never go anywhere again. “Almost, my sweet. There is still much to do.”<br/><br/>Taking off her cape, she drapes it over Bora’s shoulders who pulls it tightly around herself. From the collar of her shirt, she draws out the pouch with the fox fire and plucks it from its safe space. It’s warm and buzzing in her palm. <br/><br/>“Is…”<br/><br/>“She’s in here,” Minji tells her. “But she’s not alone.”<br/><br/>“The new rulers,” Bora says, recalling the memories of Yoohyeon and Yubin that she was shown. <br/><br/>Minji nods and takes Bora’s hand where she places the fox fire. “I’ll be back.”<br/><br/>“But—”<br/><br/>Minji looks down at where a hand has taken hold of her. Bora’s touch sends electricity through her in time with a rumble of thunder that crackles above. <br/><br/>“There’s not much time left.” Minji brushes a kiss to her lips, soothing the worry she senses on the valkyrie. “I will be back. Take to the sky and do not come down until it is finished.”<br/><br/>Letting her go, wings stretch, and Bora lifts, hovering high from the ground. Minji blows her a kiss and steps away, walking into the distance back to the edge of the cliff. <br/><br/>It comes the same as the beginning. <br/><br/>A spark of light.<br/><br/>It flares up in the sky, barreling through the clouds like an arrow caught on fire. Her heart races as it nears. The sky burns up around it, eating away in the heat. Minji has watched it happen a thousand times and now she braces herself, eyes closed to the world and head falling back. She wills every nerve in her not to move. Not to flinch. This is it. She is ready.<br/><br/>It falls onto her, striking into her chest. It collides with a force greater than waves. Greater than anything Minji has ever felt. Her teeth grit as it absorbs into her, lighting her up from the inside out. Her jaws fall open and she screams, voice drowned by the sound of destruction that roars as it is forced only into one point. Only into her. As it fills her up from bones to muscle to skin until she glows with its white light that she traps in her being. <br/><br/>All of it. Every last ray.<br/><br/>She falls to her knees surrounded by darkness that is only lit by the light that burns off her. Her skin billows with smoke. Her eyes feather with flames. Every inch of her tingles. The destruction she has taken in churns, pushing against the cage it has been confined. It is no match. Not this time. Minji’s power is on par with the cosmos and she contains it, snarls at it to stop. To bow to its new master. <br/><br/>This time, destruction will not win. This time, she will. <br/><br/>The heavy beat of wings behind her gives her strength and Minji presses her hands to the ground. She thinks of those who she will see again, those who will be given another chance, those who will finally be able to be free and uses it to cast her next spell. <br/><br/>She calls the winds and the earth, fire and water. She beckons every bit of the power that resides inside of herself and weaves it with the destruction that rages like an unruly inferno. It wraps around the destruction like vines, takes it in its grip and morphs it into something else. Into something that creates instead of breaks apart. And when she is ready, when she finally has it all in line—<br/><br/>Minji turns to Bora and smiles, a whisper on her lips. “It is done.”<br/><br/>—she lets it go.<br/><br/>With a cry, she thrusts the power out of her into the earth. Like the first dawning of nature. Like the thunder that created man. She gives herself to the earth, lets it unravel her, splitting her apart, siphoning all that she has into it. <br/><br/>What is all across the earth, washes away, charring like ash, erasing what was old into blackness. Into nothing more. <br/><br/>And then...<br/><br/>And then across the barren stretch of land, life begins to bloom. The grass sprouts and trees stretch tall. The ground breaks and water rushes. The sky swirls and clouds bloom. <br/><br/>It goes and grows further and further, circling the entire earth. <br/><br/>Until all is remade and Minji is no more. <br/><br/>-/-/-/-<br/><br/>She bursts back into existence not from a tree but from flames. <br/><br/>Her heart beats first, a hot molten ball as fierce as the core of the earth. And like the Phoenix, flames spin, swirling into the shape of a being. <br/><br/>Wisps of purple spin into limbs and expand into a body. Hair sprays like magma and falls down her back, vibrant and bright like amethyst. Her eyes burn yellow-gold ringed in lilac and her skin shimmers like an opal beneath the surface, glittery and smooth. <br/><br/>Minji sucks in a breath, breathing in the air of the new earth. It washes through her like the first sip of water after a drought, coursing through her veins like blood and she feels every living thing in it. Tastes all that is in it. <br/><br/>Eyes open and blink and what she sees is beautiful. She’s never seen a world like it. The image of perfection. The newness is overwhelming. Life untouched and renewed. Accepting and full of possibilities. <br/><br/>“Minji?”<br/><br/>She turns and she stills. <br/><br/>She has seen Bora for the first time for one thousand and one times. Yet somehow this one is the best. This one feels like the true and proper and right first. <br/><br/>Her heart swells and she feels the universe rejoice with her. <br/><br/>“Sua,” she speaks her true name and Bora gasps. “The Bravest of Valkyrie.” She holds out her hand, beckoning her forward. <br/><br/>Bora walks to her slowly, eyes taking in the new creation of what surrounds them and what stands before her. Fingers curve around hers and eyes widen at the touch. Her other hand lifts to touch Minji’s face, tracing tips across her brow and along the slope of her nose. Along her cheeks and the sharp point at the end of her ear. <br/><br/>“It is you.”<br/><br/>“Everything is me.”<br/><br/>Bora’s gaze shifts to hers. She can see the new mix of color reflected in sunbursts. “Minji of Elves, Mother of Folk, Goddess of All.”<br/><br/>“One love of your life.” Minji tilts her chin up with the press of fingers. “And one you will never go without.”<br/><br/>Lips touch and Minji feels it in the center of her chest. Like it’s the first time but not the last. She sighs into the mouth that claims hers lost in the newness yet the normalcy of it. <br/><br/>“And now?” asks Bora. <br/><br/>“Now, we release them.”<br/><br/>Bora hands her the pouch and MInji draws the fox fire from it. Swirls of gold and green and blue swirl around the insides and she almost cries at the sight of it.<br/><br/>Curling her fingers around the orb, Minji crushes it in her palm. <br/><br/>Three wisps flutter across the air and burst into figures. <br/><br/>Yubin comes first, face as youthful as the day she was placed inside of the orb. She looks to the landscape that fans around her then to Minji who offers her a nod and a smile. <br/><br/>Yoohyeon returns in wisps of ribbons that weave and stretch with wings that spread out along her back and hair glittering silver in the sunlight. When she sees Yubin she gasps, arms stretching out to take her in and Minji blinks to hold back a tear that threatens to fall. <br/><br/>Siyeon erupts in a burst of light like the oncomings of her pelt. It ripples in the shape of a wolf before taking the form of a human and Siyeon spins around, eyes darting everywhere until they settle on Minji and she gasps. <br/><br/>The sound draws the attention of the others and Minji lifts her chin, grinning at each pair of eyes that look to her. <br/><br/>“Welcome back,” she greets. <br/><br/>Yoohyeon blinks in astonishment. Her green eyes more vibrant now than they ever were. “I can’t believe this.”<br/><br/>Yubin’s hand slides into hers as she takes her position at the faerie’s side, fingers threading easily together. Like second nature. Like they’ve always known how to hold. “Is this it?” she asks. <br/><br/>Minji nods. “It is. Go.” She motions out with her hand. “See what you now rule.”<br/><br/>Beaming, Yoohyeon takes the lead with Yubin running behind her to the edges of the cliff where they stop. Eyes fall on the earth that is familiar yet not at all. Old in time yet new in creation. The sun shines over the horizon over the two and Minji thinks she’s never seen anything as beautiful. <br/><br/>“Minji.” <br/><br/>At her name, she turns back around. Golden eyes look to her before they dart away, catching sight of another who stands just behind Minji’s shoulder. She peers over to Bora whose sunburnt eyes focus on Siyeon as if she is the only thing in the world. Their gazes meet and Minji feels them collide. She feels the intensity of it in her chest that forces a breath out of her. <br/><br/>Eyes narrow in curiosity and wonder. “Is that…”<br/><br/>“Siyeon?” Bora steps forward. <br/><br/>Minji steps back and watches as Bora closes the distance, each step she takes intensifying the energy that forms around them. It’s almost visible. A swirl of gold and red and orange that spirals around them becoming ever brighter when Bora’s hands stretch out to cup around a face.<br/><br/>Siyeon shudders at her touch, chest heaving from all that she feels. Minji can feel it, too. She can feel how hard Siyeon’s heart is beating. She can feel how hard Bora’s hearts race. Her own flutters wildly in her chest so strong that she can’t help herself but to cry when Bora speaks.<br/><br/>“It’s been a long time,” it leaves her lips in a whisper. Siyeon nods and drops her head, pressing foreheads together. “You’re just as I remember.”<br/><br/>“Better,” says Minji. She moves to them, wiping the dampness away from her face. “It’s better than what is remembered.”<br/><br/>Pulling from Bora, Siyeon stretches up to claim Minji’s lips. She’s molten as always. A contrast to the coolness of a palm that presses against hers as Bora takes her hand and squeezes. <br/><br/>It’s in that moment with the three of them joined that Minji feels it. She finally feels it. She finally feels peace. She finally feels that now...she can rest. <br/><br/>“What about the others?” asks Yoohyeon as she and Yubin return to where they stand. <br/><br/>Minji smiles and looks to the valkyrie. “Bora.” <br/><br/>Bora kisses the knuckles of the hand she holds then lets it drop. Wings stretch, beautiful black and gold, beating against the air as she takes flight. <br/><br/>Her sword gleams as she gives it a mighty swing across the sky, the sacred words of the valkyrie echoing off her lips. A realm beyond opens up and the essence of all that were lost spills out, spinning back to existence along the living earth. <br/><br/>Thus is the new beginning of everlasting life.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Fin.</em>
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